


Tokyo Intermezzo

by Cant_Catch_Rabbit



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Classical Music, Celebrity Crush, Drama, Drama & Romance, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Inspired by Music, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, Long-Distance Relationship, Musicians, No Lesbians Die, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 21:39:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 55,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15894648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cant_Catch_Rabbit/pseuds/Cant_Catch_Rabbit
Summary: When superstar pianist Yukari comes to town to play a concert with trumpet player Ia's orchestra, Ia - who's been a huge Yukari fan for years - is overjoyed at finally getting to meet her idol. But Ia never expected that their passing encounter would turn into so much more. Loosely based onthe YukarIA duet "Moonflowers."





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been cross-posted from fanfiction.net, where it was first published over the period 2013-2015 under the pseud "Genki Collective." It is posted here as is; no edits have been made to [the original FFN version](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9628876/1/Tokyo-Intermezzo).

To this day, whenever I hear a performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, I think of Yuzuki Yukari.

The way her facial expressions mirrored the shifting emotions of the music pouring from her piano. Her long, strong fingers now pounding, now caressing the keys during the concerto's extended solo passages. The sway of her twin violet ponytails as they mirrored the movement of her lean, delicately-curved body. And those eyes…violet oceans that bathed my soul in warmth in a way no one else's had done before, or have since. All these images, burned into my long-term memory, are as fresh today as the moment they were created, waiting only for the sound of the concerto's familiar themes to awaken them.

We were from two different worlds, Yuzuki Yukari and me. She was a marquee soloist, in Tokyo for four days to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto with the Nippon Symphony Orchestra. I, on the other hand, was an anonymous section player, little better than a footnote on the back of the concert program, somewhere in the fine print that lists the orchestra personnel: Akasaka Aria. At the time of the Yukari's performance, I had been playing trumpet for the NSO for all of two months.

Although I'd long numbered myself among Yukari's legion of admirers, I was convinced there was no way our private universes would intersect during her time with the NSO, even though we were going to be sharing the same stage. I figured that, like the rest of my colleagues, I'd get to shake her hand, hear more of those kind words she always seemed to have for anyone and everyone, and perhaps even have my picture taken with her. And that would be it. We'd play the concerts, after which she'd move on to the next engagement, and I'd join the long list of musicians who could say that they'd played on stage with classical music's most promising young pianist.

How beautifully and utterly wrong I was.

* * *

On the first Thursday in May, I arrived at Asahi Pavilion in Tokyo's Minato Ward at about 9:25 am, thirty five minutes before the NSO's scheduled rehearsal. For me, the early show was unusual. On a normal work day, I'd roll out of bed at about 6:30, go for a run, and then squeeze in a couple hours' practice before getting to the concert hall a little before ten. But I had plenty of incentive to alter my routine on that particular morning: Yukari was slated to make her first run-through of the Rachmaninoff with the orchestra.

Usually, the Pavilion's cavernous Main Hall would still be shrouded in tomb-like silence this far ahead of time, but management had told our concertmaster that Yukari was planning on arriving well before 10:00 am to visit with the orchestra members, so he'd sent out an email telling us to be in place by 9:30. By the time I showed up, the Hall was already bustling with musicians. Fragments of scales and musical passages from a variety of instruments, together with the sound of a dozen conversations, bounced off of the polished blond-wood flooring and ricocheted around the stage.

Normally, the early call would cause a lot of grumbling. Professional musicians are a jaded, temperamental lot, and can be quite grudging when it comes to showing consideration to even the most famous of visiting soloists. But Yukari was a notable exception. Even though she'd only been touring full time for about 15 months, word had already circulated throughout the international classical music community that – unlike so many star performers – she was friendly, humble, and openly appreciative of the contributions of the musicians she worked with. Orchestras tend to respond well to that sort of attitude, so as 9:30 approached, all 90-odd musicians needed to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto were in the house, and nobody was complaining.

There were certainly no objections from me. I'd been a die-hard Yuzuki Yukari fangirl since I was 13, when I came across an online clip of her winning her first international junior piano competition. Not only was she talented and oh-so-cute, but she looked like she was having the time of her life as she ripped through Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor like it was nothing. And at 14, she was barely a year older than me. I was smitten, and from that moment Yukari became my guilty little baby-dyke pleasure. I put her pictures on my bedroom wall, bookmarked every video clip, and downloaded every sound file. While my friends got damp panties from boy bands like Arashi, I fantasized about Yukari serving as my accompanist during my music conservatory auditions, and then making celebratory love to me all night after we found out I'd gotten in.

The celebrity crush had grown far less intense as I moved from adolescence to adulthood, but it never fully went away, which explained why I'd been looking forward to this day as if it was Christmas. Now that The Day had arrived, it took everything I had to stuff my excitement behind the veneer of dignity I was expected to maintain as a professional musician.

Yukari obviously hadn't arrived yet, so I headed for my usual spot at the stage-left side of the top riser. I barely had the chance to set my trumpet case on my chair before I caught the flash of blonde out of the corner of my eye, and heard my nickname echo across the stage. Just like that, all hope for a moment's peace before rehearsal evaporated.

"Yo, Ia! So, did you bring your autograph book?" Violist Masuda Lily was smiling a bit too smugly for my taste, but the glare I shot her had no effect. She just kept right on grinning as I took her by the arm and pulled her several steps away from the rest of the brass section.

"Not so loud. I don't need anyone else hearing you give me a hard time about this. Good morning yourself, by the way."

Lily and I had known each other for more than four years, since our first day of classes at Tokyo Music Conservatory. She was not only my closest friend, but the most open-minded and understanding straight person I knew. Even so, she wasn't above teasing me about anything and everything, especially my big gay crush on Yukari. It was how we rolled.

"Hey, maybe Yuzuki-san'll sign one of her publicity photos for you," she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "I can see it now. 'To Iacchi – you're the wind beneath my wings.' Get it? Wind? It's a musician joke." She giggled in celebration of her own wit.

"Correction: it's a  _crappy_ joke. Geez, I'm 22, Lily. You make it sound like I'm twelve." My words rang hollow, because we both knew I'd been so keyed up all week over the possibility of coming face to face with Yukari that I hadn't exactly been acting my age. "Besides, I already got her autograph once, and a picture, too."

Lily's eyebrows arched upward.

"Really? I know you went to see Yuzuki-san in concert once, but I don't remember you telling me that you actually met her."

"I  _did_ tell you, but you have the memory of a fruit fly. Geez, Lily. It was about two years ago, remember? At the big piano competition in Nagoya, the year she won. She signed my program after her final concert."

"Hey, I can barely remember which guy in my contact list I dated last weekend," Lily said, pretending to look offended. "How do you expect me to remember stuff like this? But yeah, now that you mention it, she was the big topic of conversation among the piano majors at the conservatory back then. So you've met her? I take it she was nice, or you wouldn't be quite so enthusiastic."

"She was totally adorable. We talked about music school and what it's like to play professionally. She treated me like I was the most important person on earth. Trust me, Lily, when you meet her in person, you'll see what I mean."

I must have had a weird expression on my face when I said that, because Lily's smile widened perceptibly.

"God, you're such a fangirl. It's hilarious." She paused suddenly, looking at me intently and sniffing. "Hey, you smell really good this morning."

"What? Are you saying that I usually smell bad?"

"You know what I mean. And what's with that blouse? It's a lot tighter than you usually wear. You're practically bursting out of it."

"Stop staring at my…um, my you-know-whats. Creep. Anyway, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. These are my regular clothes. I didn't do anything special this morning."

I was lying, of course. My waist-length hair, which I normally just tossed into a ponytail so it stayed out of my face while playing, was hanging loose, and it had taken a half an hour's worth of hard work to get right. Furthermore, I'd purposely chosen a fitted blouse and tight slacks to emphasize my chest and rear end. I don't know what I was thinking – maybe it was a silly schoolgirl fantasy that if I was attractive enough, Yukari might take more than casual notice of me. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that I'd have to deal with Lily, whose grin was now well into Cheshire Cat territory.

"Like hell you didn't. Admit it – you got all fancied up because of her, and-…wow, Ia, are you… _blushing_? My God, you totally are!"

Judging from the burning sensation on my cheeks, she was right, unfortunately.

"Shut up. It's been such a long time…I mean, why would I go to all that trouble for someone who doesn't even remember me? Geez, would you just drop it already?"

Fortunately, Lily knew me well enough to sense when she'd pushed her teasing to the limit.

"Okay, sorry," she said, although she seemed unable to wipe that infuriating grin from her face. "The way you curl that lower lip when you're frustrated is just too cute. I'll be good, though."

"You'd better be."

"Don't worry. But…" All traces of amusement left Lily's expression, replaced by genuine concern. "…what's the deal here, Ia? This isn't like you. Usually, you're the level-headed, mature one in this friendship."

I didn't have an answer for her. The way I was behaving was, for lack of a better word, juvenile. I felt like a rock groupie. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't help myself.

"Never mind me," I said, not really wanting tell Lily what was going through my mind right then. "I'm just being stupid. It'll pass. Now will you leave me alone for a few minutes, please? I need to prep my horn for 10:00."

"Sure, but before I go, here's a bit of advice." That knowing smile of hers was back. "Unbutton one more button on that blouse. The extra cleavage might help Yuzuki-san remember you."

"Go!" Heads turned as I barked the command at her, but she simply winked at me, then casually sashayed off into the depths of the viola section. Relieved to be rid of her for the moment, I returned to my chair and pulled my trumpet out of its case. I'd barely gotten its valves oiled before a murmur swept through the assembled musicians.

A group of three people had walked through the stage doors and were heading for the podium. In the lead, easily recognizable by his tall, spare frame and salt-and-pepper hair, strode the NSO's music director. Behind the forty-something Russian were two Asian women. The first, who had shaggy, jaw-length green hair, and whose ample chest strained at the jacket of her tailored suit, was carrying what looked like a tablet computer. I'd never seen her before. To be honest, she barely registered in my mind, because my attention was on the second woman; the sight of her had unleashed what felt like a swarm of butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

Yukari was as beautiful as I remembered. Sure, I'd seen countless online photos of her since that night in Nagoya, but pixels are no substitute for reality. Her mid-thigh-length gray dress molded to her slim contours like a second skin, and matching gray knee-highs showed off her toned, impossibly long legs. She still wore her violet hair in the same distinctive style of her teen years: bobbed all around, except for the twin chest-length ponytails hanging from her temples. They looked as soft and silky as ever, and when she moved, they delicately caressed her exposed collarbone. I wanted to touch both the tails  _and_ the collarbone so badly.

But it was Yukari's eyes that drew me like a tractor beam. Words couldn't do them justice. If I had to describe them, I'd say they were warm and sexy and innocent and mischievous all in one soul-twisting package. They were the kind of eyes that, with just a glance, reach inside a girl and grab her heart in a velvet-steel fist. At any rate, that's exactly what they did to me every time I saw them, and that morning was no different.

As Yukari strode across the stage, megawatt smile in full effect, my mouth went dry. For a wind player, that's not a good thing, but I was too busy concentrating on Yukari to worry about it. I looked on as she shook hands with the concertmaster, whom she seemed to know. Because of the Main Hall's live acoustics, their conversation was quite audible.

"Ah, yes, I played a concert in Munich last month. Herr Osterhagen sends his regards. He says he's looking forward to working with you at the Zurich Festival this summer." Sophisticated words, but they were delivered in the bubbly mezzo-soprano of a typical 23-year-old Japanese woman. At the sound of her voice, those butterflies began to swirl around even faster.

She paid her respects to each of the section principals, who had congregated near the podium, and then began working her way through the maze of chairs and music stands, pausing long enough to greet each person with a bow and a few cheerful words. The closer she came, the worse my jitters got.

Finally, Yukari stood before me, and as I rose from my chair, clenching my hands into fists to keep them from trembling, her gorgeous eyes locked directly onto mine. I could hear my pulse rushing in my ears.

"This is Akasaka Aria-san, our assistant principal trumpet player," the music director said with a tight smile in my direction. "She just recently joined us from the conservatory here in Tokyo."

Yukari's brow furrowed.

"Have we met? Yes, I'm sure we've met at some point. Please…Akasaka-san, was it? Where do I know you from?"

 _My God, does she really remember me?_ I thought.  _No way!_

"At the Nagoya competition, after you won the gold medal," I said aloud, hoping my voice didn't sound too shaky. "You signed my program."

To my complete surprise, a light dawned somewhere in her memory. The resulting smile was so brilliant that I felt as though I was in the presence of a deity whose glory threatened to consume me.

"Oh, sure! How could I forget such pretty blue eyes? And these…" To my shock, she reached out to gently stroke one of the twin half-braids I'd plaited into the long, gray tresses hanging from my temples. The touch of those elegant fingers turned my knees to rubber, and for a fleeting moment, I thought I might faint. "I see you're still wearing your hair like that. I guess we sort of match, don't we?" She fingered one of her own side-tails for a moment.

"You're being much too forward." The woman in the suit barely spoke above a mutter. "Public image, Yukarin, public image."

"It's fine." Yukari waved a dismissive hand at her, then turned back to me. "You must be a heck of a player to get hired as an assistant principal straight out of music school, and by a first-rate orchestra like this one. I can't wait to hear you play."

"Back then…you inspired me to work harder…thank you…" My voice must have sounded like a croaking frog's, and I was certain that the blush I'd shown Lily earlier had returned with a vengeance.

"We need to keep moving, Yukarin." The green-haired woman, who was likely Yukari's personal assistant, tapped impatiently at the screen of her tablet. With a sigh, the pianist nodded her agreement, although she looked reluctant.

"You're right. I'm spending too much time gabbing, as usual." Yukari's eyes found mine again; they were so soft and warm that I thought I might melt. "I'm glad we crossed paths again, Akasaka-san. It's always nice to see a familiar face."

She smiled at me once more, thanked me in advance for my hard work, and moved on to the next person. I stood as still as if I'd turned to stone, able only to gaze after her as the butterflies in my stomach coalesced into one seething, fluttering mass.

I didn't know what to make of the fact that, out of all the many hundreds of people she'd met since our last encounter, the memory of a five-minute conversation with an ordinary fan like me had stuck with Yukari for so long. And yet she not only remembered me, but appeared to be genuinely glad to see me. It seemed too good to be true, but I wasn't about to complain.

Now that the shining moment had passed, I reminded myself that I had a job to do, and that I couldn't afford to allow Yukari's presence to distract me from it.  _Just keep your nose buried in your music stand, and you'll be fine,_ I told myself.

But then it hit me: in the Rach Three, the second trumpet part consists of no more than two dozen notes over the first two movements. In other words, I'd be playing for all of about 30 seconds out of the first half hour of a 45-minute concerto. There wasn't nearly enough to keep my mind occupied.

The sound of Yukari's laughter floated across the stage like the sound of a silver wind chime on a summer breeze.  _Oh, God, I want her so badly, but it's never going to happen,_  I thought, wishing that those damned butterflies would fly away once and for all.

I wondered how I was going to make it through the next two hours without falling to pieces.

* * *

Rehearsal turned out to be a much different experience than I'd expected. To my disappointment, I didn't have a clear view of Yukari's face from my vantage point on the rear riser; the podium and the propped-open piano lid combined to block her from my view. With no other alternative, I spent most of my considerable down time listening to her play.

Needless to say, Yukari was as brilliant as ever.

Rachmaninoff's  _Concerto No. 3_  has passages that, in the hands of a truly inspired pianist, evoke a kaleidoscope of images. A raging flood, a lover's caress, the capering of a childhood playmate – Yukari wove them all into a seamless tale that pulled me in so completely that I very nearly missed my first entrance. Fortunately, my boss, the principal trumpet player, saved me with a well-placed elbow.

When rehearsal finally ended, I remained in my chair as the colleagues around me packed up and left, trying to process the previous two and a half hours. As I sat staring into space, my hands on autopilot as they wiped down my trumpet, I gradually sensed something that sounded like a female voice murmuring in my right ear. I was too lost in my thoughts to pay any real attention to it until a hand yanked at my sleeve.

"Hey, you! Quit ignoring me!"

With a start, I looked over my shoulder to find Lily scowling at me.

"I thought I heard a faint buzzing," I deadpanned. "Were you saying something important? Probably not, or I would have noticed."

"Idiot. My stomach's growling. Keep me waiting any longer and I'll stick you with the lunch check."

"Okay, okay. Geez. Give me a second." I reassembled my trumpet's valves and tucked it back into its case. Moments later, Lily and I were walking through the stage door and into the winding hallway that led to the Pavilion's rear exit, instrument cases slung over our shoulders.

"Took you long enough," Lily grumbled.

"Sorry about that. I guess I was spacing out." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "And sorry for not hanging out during break, too. I was a bit busy with all these people asking me questions. 'How long have you known Yuzuki-san?' 'How did you two meet?' 'Are you guys really that close?' 'Are the two of going to hang out later? If so, can we come?' What a pain in the neck. No one believes I'm not bosom buddies with her. Thanks for tossing me that water bottle, by the way. I was ready to shrivel up."

"You're welcome," Lily said. "But why're you surprised at the buzz after what happened on stage before rehearsal? Right in front of everyone, too. I guess Yuzuki-san remembered you after all, huh?" She raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Lily either didn't hear my remark, or chose to ignore it.

"What was up with her and your hair, anyway? You and I are close, and I would never do something like that. Well, not in front of an audience. And not unless I was really drunk. And I wouldn't touch your half-braids. I'd go for your boo-…"

I knew all too well where this was going – downhill fast, as usual for Lily – so I cut her off.

"Shut up, pervert. Anyway, she was just being friendly. That's the way she is."

Lily nodded, although she seemed less than convinced.

"The last time someone acted  _that_ friendly with me in public, he and I were fucking like rabbits in a love hotel inside of 30 minutes."

That did it. I came to a dead stop in the middle of the deserted corridor and whirled to face Lily, gritting my teeth in frustration and fighting the urge to beat her over the head with my trumpet case.

"Would you please knock off the sleazy comments?"

Lily's shoulders shook with barely-suppressed laughter.

"I'll try, but I'm not sure it's possible," she said. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. It was really weird how she was so much friendlier with you than with anyone else. I mean, she was friendly with everyone, but she really turned on the charm with you. I can't believe you weren't embarrassed by that. Usually, you wilt at the slightest provocation."

My annoyance evaporated as the mental image of Yukari's fingers gently stroking my half-braid flitted across my memory.

"Maybe, but for once in my life, I didn't mind at all."

"It sure didn't look like you minded," Lily snorted. "In fact, when she touched you, I thought you were going to co-…"

"Don't say it! Geez, do you ever think about anything but sex?"

"I do think about other things sometimes," Lily insisted. "Take music, for example. Were you aware that Ravel's  _Bolero_ is the perfect background track for long, steady intercourse?"

"I hate you."

"Yes. Yes, you do. But you love me so much more."

"Shut up and walk," I said, cursing her inwardly for being right. With an exasperated shake of my head, I turned and stalked down the corridor. Lily walked beside me in silence, clearly aware that she was dancing on my last nerve. As if extending an olive branch, she turned the conversation in a more serious direction.

"I have to admit that when it comes to Yuzuki-san, you were absolutely right."

"How so?"

"She seems so…'genuine' is the word I'm looking for. Very warm and sincere. I don't think a soloist has ever thanked me for my contribution to their performance. I mean, who cares about the ass end of the viola section? But Yuzuki-san made me feel as important as anyone else before we'd even played a note together. How chill is that? I guess I can see why you're so into her." She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "True confession? I know I've been jerking your chain over all of this, but if the orchestra brought in some young stud of a violinist, like that German guy who models on the side, I'd probably act the same way as you."

"No, you wouldn't," I countered. "You'd be much ruder."

"True. Hot guys do strange things to my inhibitions." She let out a long sigh. "There's a huge gap between people like Yuzuki-san and the rest of us, isn't there? Compared to them, we're nobodies. I guess that's why fans have to content themselves with their dreams, right?"

She had a valid point. Regardless of what had happened between Yukari and me before rehearsal, I was under no illusions. She was untouchable, the stuff of fantasy. I'd had my fangirl moment, and as satisfying as it was, I had no right to expect anything more.

* * *

As we approached the Pavilion's service entrance, I was about to ask Lily if there was anywhere in particular she wanted to eat lunch, when she hit me with a question that I didn't expect.

"Hey Ia, do you remember that girl with Yuzuki-san…the one with the green hair?"

"Yeah. What about her?"

Lily paused in front of the doorway.

"She's really good-looking, don't you think? Built like one of those Western swimsuit models. Very easy on the eyes. I wish I had a body like hers."

It seemed a bit odd that Lily would comment on another woman's appearance. Usually, she went on and on about this or that cute guy she'd seen.

"I wasn't really paying attention to her, so I wouldn't know," I said. "Why the sudden interest?"

Lily shrugged.

"Couldn't tell you. It was just that she seemed…different, somehow. I was wondering if it was just me. Maybe it was. I have to say, though…I wouldn't at all mind chatting with her over milk tea."

"If that's an invitation, then I accept," said a voice.

Neither Lily nor I had noticed the speaker as she walked up to us during our conversation: the very woman Lily was talking about. Without Yukari to divert my attention, I got a good look at her for the first time. Even though she wasn't my type, I could definitely see why Lily would consider the woman attractive. She had similar attributes to those Lily preferred in the men she dated: an outgoing, cheerful aura, and a body straight out of an anime.

"Sorry to intrude," she said, bowing politely to Lily and me. Her businesslike expression of earlier had given way to a relaxed, confident smile. "Masami Gumi, Yuzuki-san's personal assistant. Akasaka-san and Masuda-san, right?" I nodded, but Gumi barely noticed. Her attention was firmly fixed on Lily, who stared back at her with much more than casual interest.

"I'm flattered by the compliment, Masuda-san," Gumi continued, "and I really enjoy milk tea, especially when the company's good."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to repeat all that," Lily replied, entering full-on flirt mode. "I was too busy noticing what a beautiful shade of emerald your eyes are."

Gumi didn't miss a beat.

"Yours are the most intriguing shade of azure." Her smile was both speculative and a bit mischievous. "You talk as smoothly as you play your viola. I like that."

"And I like that you were paying such close attention to my playing," was Lily's immediate rejoinder. "What kind of performer would I be if I didn't? Especially when my audience is so…" She paused, flipping her waist-length blonde hair for effect. "…appreciative."

Their exchange took me by completely by surprise. The issue wasn't that Lily was flirting with Gumi, a total stranger. Lily would play the coquette with just about anyone, male or female, young or old, but most of the time it was all in light-hearted fun. She normally reserved her serious efforts for the large supporting cast of men who always seemed to surround her. I'd never seen her hit on another woman so openly, especially one who returned the favor with such enthusiasm. If I'd encountered a similar scenario in a yuri manga or light novel, or seen two girls do their mating dance in a lesbian club, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Given the very public setting, however, it felt weird, and more than a little creepy.

After making a show of clearing my throat, I asked, "Um, Masami-san, is there something we can help you with?"

Gumi looked at me blankly for the briefest of moments. Then, as quickly as it had lifted, her mask of professionalism snapped back into place.

"Sorry for being inconsiderate, Akasaka-san. I was looking for you, actually, so I'm glad I caught you before you left. Yuzuki-san would like to invite you to visit her in her dressing room to continue your conversation of earlier this morning. Provided you're not busy, of course."

I was so shocked that I couldn't even nod my agreement, let alone answer her. The most I could do was stand there gaping at Gumi like a fool.

"Of course she would." Lily, who must have seen that I wasn't capable of speaking for myself, answered for me. "She'd rather die than miss this chance. Isn't that right?" With a wink, Lily nudged me with her elbow. "Run along with the pretty lady, Ia. Don't worry about me."

Gumi smiled knowingly.

"'Pretty lady', huh? I like the way you think, Masuda-san. This conversation is  _not_ over."

"I certainly hope not," Lily said. "Um, I'll wait in the musicians' break room, Ia. Have fun." She may have been talking to me, but her goofy grin was directed at Gumi.

I barely noticed, because I was still trying to get my mind wrapped around the fact that I was going to get to have a private conversation with Yukari, something I thought wasn't ever going to happen. My voice was little more than a squeak as I replied, "Um, sure. I shouldn't be long."

* * *

As I walked with Gumi through Asahi Pavilion's maze of backstage corridors, it's impossible to say what I was feeling more intensely: nervousness or anticipation. For Gumi's part, she didn't have a lot to say at first, which was fine by me, because I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to engage in any meaningful conversation. After we turned the second corner and headed up the stairs, however, she finally broke the silence.

"Big fan of Yuzuki-san's, are you?"

I glanced at her briefly, trying to decide if she was borrowing a page from Lily's teasing playbook. She didn't seem to be, though; more likely, she'd seen reactions like mine many times before, and was simply trying to put me at ease. I decided to be honest.

"For years."

"Relax. She won't bite you. This was her idea, after all."

"Sorry about this. I feel so childish."

"Don't be sorry. Yuzuki-san's every bit as sweet as she appears to be. At least she is to everyone but me." Gumi chuckled quietly for a moment, as if it was some sort of private joke. "For what it's worth, she never does this."

"Never does what?"

"Brings people to her dressing room. I've been her P.A. since she started touring full time, and I've never seen her do it. Of course, she hasn't ever mentioned you before today, but it looked to me like you two have a past, so I guess it makes sense. I wouldn't dream of prying, though."

 _Not much, you wouldn't,_ I thought, but decided there was no harm in explaining this so-called "past." There was nothing to it, after all.

When I finished, Gumi said, "You must have made quite an impression on her. No offense, but it seems a little strange. Oh, well, who knows what she's thinking? She isn't exactly predictable. Obviously, you know from experience how artists can be."

Reassured by Gumi's easy manner, I began to relax.

"I hang around with Masuda-san," I said "Trust me, I live with the temperamental musician stereotype every day."

This time, Gumi's laugh was a bit louder.

"Funny you should mention Masuda-san. I meet a lot of people in this job, but I don't recall ever meeting someone so…interesting. Was she on the level with that milk tea comment? Hope so. I'd even pay for the tea myself. That is, if she's serious."

Obviously, Gumi was fishing for information, but she wasn't going to get any from me. For all her teasing, Lily had always respected my privacy, and I wasn't about to violate hers. Still, I thought it would be rude to ignore Gumi's question completely.

"One way to find out would be to ask her. Masuda-san says what she thinks, and she respects that quality in others."

Gumi nodded, and fell silent; I could sense that she was mulling over my words. Neither of us said anything further until we got to Yukari's dressing room.

* * *

When we finally arrived at the Main Hall's backstage complex, Gumi walked up to one of the long line of nondescript, unmarked doorways and knocked twice. Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and went inside, motioning for me to follow her.

Despite the number of people shoehorned into it, the cramped room didn't show any sign of being occupied. Other than a scarlet-and-black hoodie draped over one of the chairs, and Gumi's tablet, which was lying on the make-up table, there were no personal items visible. Even so, the place didn't seem at all sterile to me, given who was standing in front of the mirror that hung on the far wall.

Yukari was facing away from me, cell phone pressed to her ear. The conversation sounded contentious, but I was too busy gawking at her to pay much attention to what she was saying.

I've never been much for buxom women. My most recent girlfriend, a butchy redhead with scarlet eyes, could easily pass for a teenage boy when she had her hair tucked into a hat. That girl had just enough curves to be dangerous, and for whatever reason, that really flips my switch. So it was no surprise that I couldn't keep my eyes off of the lean contours of Yukari's shoulders and back, and her slim, boyish hips.

 _Don't stare at her ass, don't stare at her ass, don't stare at her ass,_ I chanted in my mind.  _Oh, God, too late!_

Whether it was from joy or frustration, I wasn't sure, but suddenly I wanted to cry. The butterflies I'd felt in the morning didn't return – thankfully – but in their place I could feel that heavy tension building in my belly, the kind a girl gets when she's close enough to touch someone she's strongly attracted to.

Gumi tapped Yukari on the shoulder, and then jerked a thumb in my direction. Immediately, the pianist spun around to face me.

"Hang on," she barked into the phone, then clamped a palm over it. When our eyes met, I was treated to a smile as brilliant as the one she'd flashed at me onstage before rehearsal. "You're here! I'm so glad!"

 _As if I could have refused you._ Unfortunately, I couldn't manage to transform that thought into actual words, so I simply bowed in greeting and smiled awkwardly back at her.

"Give me a second to finish this," Yukari said, pointing apologetically to her phone. When I nodded, she turned away and resumed her conversation. As for me, I went right back to staring at her, wondering how it would feel to mold my body against her back while she talked.

"Hey, it's me again…Look, you need to tell St. Louis to stick to the original agreement, which was Prokofiev Two. I'm not switching to the Brahms One on such short notice. There's not enough prep time…No means no. If they insist on this change, they can find themselves another soloist…I don't care if their guest conductor's having a hissy fit. I didn't like the guy when I worked with him in Prague, and I'm not in any mood to take any more of his bullying…Look, I'm about to go into a super-important meeting, okay? I'll have Masami-san call the American office directly, sometime tomorrow…Fine…Okay, later."

With a growl of frustration, Yukari mashed a finger into her smartphone screen.

"You're going to have to straighten this out for me, Gumi-chan. My English isn't good enough to argue with these people. Some agents they are – they do whatever they want. Remind me never to book with the St. Louis Philharmonic again after this, okay?"

"Tell me the details later," her assistant said. "It's time for your 'super-important meeting', remember?"

"Ooh, you're right!" Yukari's head snapped upward, eyes glowing with delight. "Akasaka-san, hello again!"

"Yuzuki-san…it's an honor…" I sounded wheezy, like I was hyperventilating. Which I very nearly was.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come to see me, but you did anyway. Somebody…" Yukari glanced at Gumi – a little guiltily, I thought, "…gave me a hard time about being too familiar in public with someone I hardly know. After she did, I got to thinking that you might have been really offended, and I didn't want that at all. So now that you're here, I can apologize properly. I'm really sorry for embarrassing you!"

She bowed deeply and held it.

"Th-there's, um, no n-need," I stammered. "Please d-don't do this." She didn't move. "Yuzuki-san, please. You didn't embarrass me before. This is embarrassing me."

When Yukari stood upright again, she looked relieved.

"I'm so glad you're not angry with me. About what I did earlier…it's just that…uh, after Nagoya, I never quite forgot you, and…after all this time, there you were. Um, I was so happy to see a face I recognized that I just sort of…reacted." To my complete shock, she blushed, then dropped her head into her hands. "My God, I'm thinking out loud again. I sound like a total stalker. Guh! Sorry!"

Clearly, the memory of our encounter in Nagoya meant much more to Yukari than I'd ever expected. I had to fight to keep from pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Behold the power of the Red String of Fate," Gumi intoned, as if she was doing a voiceover for a shoujo anime. Yukari scowled at her, but there was no real venom in the action. If anything, she looked more cute than fierce, at least to me.

"Stop talking like an old woman, Gumi-chan. Don't you have personal-assistant-type things to do? Go on, take a spin around the Pavilion and give Akasaka-san and me some privacy."

"Fine," Gumi said with a shrug and an indulgent smile, almost like she was humoring a little sister. Ignoring her boss' display of petulance, she retrieved her tablet, and began to tick items off what appeared to be Yukari's "to-do" list. "Don't forget – dinner with the NSO Board of Directors is at 17:00, so you need to be back at the hotel by 16:00. I'll pick up your dress for tonight from the dry cleaners and have it waiting. Also, you need to return your cousin Mayu-san's phone call, preferably before dinner. You can't keep putting her off – you know how, um, insistent she gets."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Yukari rolled her eyes. "Anything else, Slavedriver-san?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it. Oh, and I made the reservations at the restaurant like you asked. If you and Akasaka-san don't get going, you'll be late."

_'Reservations at the restaurant'…'you and Akasaka-san'…a meal? With Yukari? These girls are messing with me, I just know it._

"Akasaka-san, um…I'm sorry for springing it on you like this." Yukari wrung her hands anxiously. "I mean, if you don't have more pressing matters to attend to, uh…would you allow me to treat you to lunch?"

This was no joke.

"Oh, no, I couldn't impose on you like that," I said aloud, more for the sake of propriety than anything else. Inside, however, I was screaming yes at the top of my lungs.

"But I insist," Yukari countered. "Consider it the other half of my apology."

"Then thanks for your kindness. But, uh, my friend is outside waiting for me. I need to tell her what's up."

"I'll take care of that for you, Akasaka-san," Gumi said, her eyes gleaming at my mention of Lily. "Masuda-san and I need to finish our conversation, after all. Call me if you need me, Yukarin."

With a wave, Gumi was gone. And then the reality of the situation hit me. I was alone. With Yukari. In her dressing room.

My mind began to race. Unfortunately, all the images dancing through it involved Yukari doing things to me that polite people normally only discussed behind closed doors, if then. My rational side knew that there wasn't a chance in hell of anything actually happening between us, and that Yukari was just being her usual friendly self, but that thought didn't exactly help cool down my overheated imagination.

"What's this about a conversation?"

The sound of Yukari's voice brought me back to down to earth, and I turned to find her looking at me curiously. Her exact words didn't immediately register, because I was transfixed by the sight of those violet eyes. If I'd fallen into them and drowned right then, I would have considered it a noble death. But the moment didn't last, because Yukari wouldn't let her question go unanswered.

"Earth to Akasaka-san. What conversation?"

I told her about how Gumi and Lily had hit it off, omitting the details of their flirting. It didn't seem wise to tell Yukari that the same personal assistant who had lectured her about social boundaries had turned right around and hit on one of the orchestra members less than three hours later.

"Masuda-san? The blonde violist, huh?" Yukari grinned almost wickedly. "Heh. Different city, same old Gumi-chan."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's not important."

For some reason, she seemed pleased with herself, but I wasn't going to push things by asking her to explain her cryptic comment. Besides, I really didn't care what was going on between Lily and Gumi, if anything. I had something much more important on my mind: my soon-to-be lunch, one on one, with Yukari.

Before it fully sank in that another of my fangirl dreams was about to come true, Yukari went one better by winding her arm around mine, as if we were old, close friends. For the second time that day, my legs felt like noodles.

"Let's go," she said, grabbing her hoodie with her free hand and pulling me toward the dressing room door. "We don't want to lose our reservation." She paused to giggle, a sound so beautiful that my heart nearly burst. "It's been so long since I had lunch with a friend. I'm so excited! I promise you, Akasaka-san, we're going to have an awesome time!"

Rather than answer, I simply nodded, and allowed Yukari to lead me. The warmth of her body against my arm was not only doing wonderful things to my insides, it had my mind on lockdown. I could only process one single word, the one Yukari had used on me moments before, with devastating effect.

_Friend._


	2. Antiphon

The restaurant where Yukari took me turned out to be Arai, a trendy bistro located on the ground floor of the nearby Imperial Minato Hotel. It wasn't the type of place I frequented – generally, I preferred take-out noodles to obscenely-priced tuna sashimi – but since Yukari had insisted on treating me, I wasn't about to question her choice.

"Gumi-chan and I are staying upstairs," she explained as we walked through the hotel's spacious lobby toward the bistro's interior entrance. "We wanted to check this place out last night, but they were closed by the time we got here. The travel sites say their seafood's supposed to be awesome."

With its polished oak paneling and gleaming brass fixtures, Arai exuded the sort of understated elegance expected of a fine dining establishment. The headwaiter led us through the main seating area to a table in a quiet, dimly-lit corner; situated between two greenery-filled planters, it seemed the perfect place for a private conversation.

After taking our drink orders and describing the daily special – spicy grilled eel with shiitake mushrooms – he left us to study the menu. Well, one of us, anyway. Yukari's eyes had lit up when he mentioned eel.

"I like the sound of that daily special," she said. "It's tough to find decent unagi outside Japan. Even in northern Europe, it's not the same somehow. How about you? Anything look interesting?"

I stared vacantly at the list of entrées, unable to come to a decision even with help from the heavenly smells wafting from the kitchen. My mind was still stuck on the improbable fact that this beautiful and desirable woman –  _the_ Yuzuki Yukari – was sitting right across from me, so close that I could reach out and touch her if I only had the nerve, and smiling a smile that was slowly destroying me from the inside out.

 _This is too dangerous,_ I thought.  _I need to get a grip before I start acting like Lily. Heh. That'd probably get us both arrested. But, God, I can barely look at her without wanting to…_

"Um, Akasaka-san…is everything okay?"

With a jolt, I realized I'd drifted off into my thoughts. From the other side of the table, Yukari was staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"It's…it's fine." When I shook my head for emphasis, she seemed to relax.

"Oh, good. I was worried I'd done something weird, because you seemed really…uh, anxious all of a sudden. You shouldn't be, okay? Let's just be two normal girls spending time together over lunch."

"I get spacey sometimes," I said. "Don't mind it."

"Okay, then," she said, still looking doubtful. "Hey, I'm sorry if I'm coming on a little strong. It's been a while since I asked someone out to lunch like this – since college, at least – so I'm a bit out of practice."

I found that hard to believe.

"Really? But you're so…"  _…gorgeous and sexy and fun to be around,_ I wanted to say, but I didn't dare. "…um, you seem like the type to have friends in every city."

"Me? Hardly." Yukari's tone took on a hint of bitterness. "Gumi-chan's the one with a bazillion names on her contact list. Compared to her, I'm a shut-in. When I'm on the road, I'm either practicing, or hiding in my hotel room, or suffering through yet another god-awful symphony fundraiser where I'm the only one in the room under 40. Not much of a social life, is it?"

"I've heard stories about how tough touring is," I admitted. "We orchestra types have it pretty easy by comparison. Still, I can't believe you don't have friends to hang out with back home in…where is home nowadays, anyway? Your web site doesn't say."

"Los Angeles. Actually, I don't live in the city itself, but in Gardena, which is right to the south. I felt I pretty much had to leave Kyoto when I started touring full time, because it was a pain having to travel so far to get to gigs. Besides, both my record label and my agent's American office are in L.A., and Gumi's fluent in English, so it's easier to do business in the States. The move made sense from a career standpoint."

"Southern California sounds glamorous," I said with a touch of envy. "I'll bet you fit right in."

Her eyes twinkled with amusement.

"You'd think that life there would be one big party, but it's not. Gardena's got a big Japanese community, but I still feel like a fish out of water. I've met a few people through Gumi, but it's hard to make friends and keep them when you spend nine months a year traveling. It doesn't help that my English is so horrible that I can barely get anyone to understand me without Gumi's help. Even in Gardena, hardly any of the younger Japanese-Americans actually speak Japanese. That doesn't leave me with a lot of people to talk to, so I pretty much keep to myself most of the time. The few real friends I have are from when I was in college, but of course I never see them anymore. That's why what you and I are doing right now is so…nice."

She let out a wistful sigh, and for the briefest of moments I caught a glimpse of what I suspected was the real Yukari. Underneath it all, this charismatic artist who always seemed to be the center of attention was in reality a very lonely woman.

 _No wonder she was so eager to take me to lunch,_ I thought.  _It shouldn't be this way. Someone this friendly and kind shouldn't have to be so…alone. I wonder… when she's been on tour for six months or so, what does she do in the middle of the night when she just wants someone to hold her? Her hotel room must seem like a really cold and lonely place when that happens…_

Yukari's sudden giggle brought me back to the present.

"You know what I just realized?" A mischievous smirk crept across her face. "This is the closest thing I've had to a date in a year and a half."

"A d-d-date?" The notion that Yukari would view our lunch in those terms had my brain dangerously close to short-circuiting.

"Ugh, I said something strange again, didn't I?" Yukari seemed embarrassed all of a sudden; it was clear that she'd misinterpreted my reaction. "Sorry about that. I worry about my social skills sometimes, especially when I'm talking to a really hot girl-…oops." With a look of sudden horror, she clapped a hand over her mouth, as if she'd just revealed a dark secret by accident. There was a long, awkward silence as I stared dumbly at her, trying to process what she'd said.

_Yukari thinks I'm "hot." What did she mean? Does she like me like "that?"_

It didn't seem possible, but I couldn't argue with the evidence. Her actions to that point – touching my hair, commenting on my eyes, linking arms with plenty of body contact, inviting me to lunch on the flimsiest of pretexts, and so on – certainly suggested that she might be attracted to me on some level. Unfortunately, there was really no way to know for sure without coming out and asking her, and I wasn't about to do that. In my wildest fantasies, Yukari had been quite direct about her attempts to seduce me, but reality was another matter altogether. For all I knew, she was straight as a meter stick, and was simply admiring another woman she found attractive.

_I need to watch my step here. Can't take anything for granted._

Meanwhile, Yukari's sunny, self-assured aura of moments earlier had disappeared, and she now appeared to be as flustered as I was.

"Oh, geez, I didn't…Akasaka-san, I…I'm so sorry! I'd didn't mean to say you're hot. Um, well, I  _did_ , but…no, I didn't, not out loud. But God, you  _are_ hot, totally, and…no wait, that's not what it sounds like. I mean…dammit, I don't know  _what_ I mean anymore." Her shoulders slumped. "You probably think I'm the weirdest person ever. Ugh. Shutting up now."

She looked so mortified that I was afraid she might bolt the restaurant altogether.

"Hey, it's okay. What you said isn't weird. Not at all." I swallowed hard, and decided to take the chance that what she'd said was more than just a simple compliment. "In fact, I'm really happy that you think of me that way."

Our eyes met and locked, and in an instant, the atmosphere between us changed completely. Yukari's cheerful, friendly veil evaporated, allowing me a full view of what lay underneath. In that moment, I realized she was with me not because she wanted to repay an obligation, or to ease her loneliness with a bit of companionship, but because of some deeper, unspoken need that could never be fully met by simple friendship.

Ever so softly, my gaydar began to ping.

"So you really think I'm pretty, then?" I looked away, nibbling on my lower lip while waiting for her answer. My heart began to pound so hard that the beats were almost audible. Finally, I heard a sharp intake of breath from across the table.

"Akasaka-san, you're the most…"

To my utter dismay, the waiter materialized out of nowhere with our drinks just as Yukari began to speak. Just like that, the moment vanished, smothered under a heavy mantle of awkwardness, leaving us both to pretend, at least for the waiter's sake, that things weren't any different from before, even though we both knew otherwise.

Yukari ordered the special without hesitation. I did the same, not because I had a particular taste for eel, but because I'd been so wrapped up in what was going on between Yukari and me that I never bothered to choose something from the menu.

"Compared to what I usually eat on tour, this is pretty fancy stuff," Yukari said after the waiter had retreated. From her suddenly upbeat attitude, I could tell she was trying to push aside our mutual embarrassment and jump-start the conversation. "Most of the time, Gumi-chan gets take-out for me. After what she calls the Pizza Incident, she won't let me order out for myself until I take another round of English lessons."

I thought that sounded like an interesting story, and told her so.

"It happened a couple months after I moved to the States." She grinned sheepishly at the memory. "Gumi-chan wasn't around, and I'd been practicing a brutal piece for about four hours or so and was really hungry. I was too tired to cook, so I decided to order a pizza. I figured, you know, no big deal to do that over the phone. I'd watched Gumi-chan do it a bunch of times. All I had to do was say 'medium pizza with mushrooms and green peppers' and give them my address. Simple, right?" She paused to roll her eyes. "Wrong."

"Oh, God, don't tell me…" I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Yep, you guessed it. Turns out that particular pizza place is run by a bunch of Koreans, and they all must have been fresh off the plane like I was, because their English sucked just as bad as mine. The guy started asking me questions, and it was all downhill from there."

She went on to reenact the phone conversation, complete with an imitation of the increasingly impatient shop attendant that was so hilarious that I had to bite down on a knuckle to keep from bursting into laughter.

"So this cute little Korean girl rings my doorbell, and hands me a personal-size pizza with extra jalapeno peppers and no tomato sauce. Oh, and I wound up with four two-liter bottles of diet cola, too. Heaven knows how  _that_ happened. Anyway, it was a fiasco. I just paid her and sent her on her way. God, you should have heard Gumi-chan laugh at me when she found out about it. I just wish she'd told me I could have ordered online  _before_ I went and made myself look stupid."

Telling that story on herself was the best thing Yukari could have done to lighten the mood. Before too long, we were chatting freely, swapping stories in much the same way Lily and I would. At first, we talked mostly about classical music in general, and about the upcoming concert in particular. By the time our food arrived, however, Yukari had steered the topic away from work, and we began to reveal more and more of our personal lives to each other.

But like the proverbial elephant in the living room, the romantic undercurrent between us was too obvious to ignore for long. The flirting was subtle at first – a sideways glance here, a tilt of the head there – but soon escalated to more obvious signals like gratuitous compliments and occasional touches to each other's hands. Unable to focus on anything else but Yukari, I found myself hanging on her every word, and gazing raptly at her as if I was trying to commit every small detail of her beautiful face to memory.

But despite the fact that we were flirting openly, we never really made it back to where we were before the waiter interrupted Yukari in mid-sentence. I found that frustrating, because even though I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say, I still wanted to hear it. Unfortunately, she never volunteered to finish the thought, and I didn't have to courage to ask.

Just as I thought things had hit a dead end, Yukari took the conversation in a direction that finally laid to rest any doubts I had about her attraction to me.

"Man, that was good," she said, pushing back her empty plate. "These guys sure do right by eel. How was yours?"

"Delicious." In truth, I'd barely even been conscious of eating it.

"You should ask your boyfriend to bring you here," she said. "It's a nice place for a romantic meal."

It sounded like an offhand comment, but something told me it was really an unspoken question:  _Are you single?_

"There is no boyfriend." I blurted it out without thinking, but before I had the chance to regret it, Yukari let out a delighted gasp.

"Oh, thank goodness!" With yet another blush, she clapped her hand over her mouth, and immediately began to backpedal. "Um…I mean, uh…that's what the men of Tokyo must be thinking. You know, thank goodness Akasaka-san's single. And available. Yeah, that's what I meant. And I'm doing it again, dammit."

Her flustered reaction was so adorable that I wanted to throw myself across the table and into her arms, but I decided to play it cool, and do a little investigative work of my own.

"I don't really care about the men of Tokyo or any other city," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Never have, to be honest. Men are more trouble than they're worth, and they're much less interesting and fun to be around than women."

Our eyes met, and from the glowing smile on her face, I immediately sensed that we understood each other.

"I totally agree with you." There was a subtle difference to her tone, barely discernable, but one that I picked up nonetheless: an element of heat that hadn't been there before. "Men are overrated. I'd much rather spend time, say, having lunch with a woman I find absolutely fascinating. You know, basically doing what I'm doing right now."

From that point, the sexual tension between us, which had been bubbling under the surface since she'd let slip that she thought I was "hot," began to boil over. I couldn't remember a word of what either one of us said. I was too busy bathing in the sound of Yukari's voice.

We were so engrossed in each other that we didn't notice that Arai's lunch service had ended, and that we were the only customers left in the dining room. It had been over two hours since we were seated, and yet to me it seemed like only a few minutes.

"Looks like we closed the place down." With a giggle, Yukari nodded toward our waiter, who was lurking in the background, trying not to make it obvious that he was waiting to clear our table. "I wish we could stay longer, but we should probably get out of his way."

With a nod, I slung my trumpet case over my shoulder and followed her out of the restaurant and across the hotel lobby. When we reached the deserted cluster of empty easy chairs and sofas opposite the front desk, she stopped and turned to face me. For the first time since we'd left her dressing room at the Pavilion, we were someplace where no one could overhear us talking together.

"I still owe you an answer," she said, her voice soft and a bit husky. "You know, to that question you asked me." She took a deep breath, as if to steady her nerves. "You're not just pretty, Akasaka-san – you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. I thought that way in Nagoya, and I still do."

The change in her demeanor was astounding. During lunch, she'd been her usual bubbly self, even while we flirted. But now, with no one else around to witness our exchange, the look on her face was so earnest, and so filled with longing, that I felt my insides turn to liquid.

"Yuzuki-san…I…you…we…"

Suddenly, I forgot how to form proper sentences. Yukari's words –  _the most beautiful woman I've ever met_  – had scrambled my ability to reason. I gave up trying to answer, and allowed myself to get lost in those violet eyes.

After what seemed like an eon, Yukari broke the spell.

"I really should go," she apologized.

The seeming finality of those words broke my mind out of its stasis.

"Thanks very much for lunch. You've been so kind to me, and I'll never forget that. So…" I hesitated, not wanting her to leave me. At the back of my mind, a tiny voice kept saying that when she turned and walked away, there was no guarantee I'd see her again except from across the stage during the weekend's concerts. Naturally, I didn't want things to end that way, but my rational side reminded me that I had no reason to expect anything different. "…I guess this is it, then."

In response, Yukari raised her eyes to mine. There was a searching quality to her expression, as if she was trying to read something written deep inside of me. I held her gaze as best I could, although it's hard to appear calm when your abdominal muscles are clenching so hard that you can barely breathe.

"This doesn't have to be 'it,' Akasaka-san," she finally said. "I'm in town until 18:00 Sunday. That's about…what? Seventy-five hours from now. We have all kinds of time." Her expression turned hopeful. "So, um…when can I see you again?"

I thought my heart was going to explode from my chest.

"How about tonight?" I hoped I didn't sound too eager, although quite honestly, I would have fallen to my knees and begged shamelessly if that's what it would have taken to convince her.

"How about right now?" She giggled a bit at my dropped jaw before continuing, "That's a joke, of course, although I wish it wasn't. I have business to take care of, and I'm sure you do, too. It looks like we'll have to wait until later on, after I'm done rubbing elbows with the NSO Board. I'm not sure exactly how long that'll go, but I should be free sometime around, oh, 21:00 or so. We can meet here in the hotel lobby, if that's okay. And hey, how about we exchange phone numbers? That way, I can email you if I'm running late."

As if moving on its own, my hand lifted my cell to meet hers. Once the transfer was complete, I clutched the device to my chest as if it was some sort of holy relic. With Yukari's contact information in it, it might as well have been.

"Make sure you turn on the charm tonight," I said. "The more funds the Board raises, the more likely it is I'll get a raise come January."

My attempted joke wasn't that funny, but it drew an indulgent chuckle from her all the same.

"I'd rather be charming a certain trumpet player, but it can't be helped, can it?" She winked, and then added, "See you at 21:00, Akasaka-san."

The sultry way she said my name sent a shiver up my spine.

"I can't wait," I somehow managed to reply.

With that, Yukari turned and walked toward the bank of elevators at the far side of the lobby. I watched her go, silently marveling at how a girl with such understated curves could be so damned sexy. How I wished to God that it was already 21:00.

* * *

It's almost an unwritten rule that a girl has to share her triumphs and tragedies with her friends. And since my lunch with Yukari was a triumph of monumental proportions, the moment I walked out of the Imperial Minato's revolving front door, I pulled up Lily's contact page on my cell.

But she proved uncharacteristically difficult to contact by phone, and trying to reach her by email wasn't much more effective. From what I could gather from the few emails she responded to, she was somewhere in Bunkyou Ward with Masami-san – which shouldn't have surprised me after the chemistry I'd seen between them that morning, but still did – and wouldn't be back to Minato before I had to be at the music store to teach my usual Thursday evening private lessons.

After several rounds of emailing back and forth, we agreed to meet at my apartment in Shinjuku after I finished teaching. It was a win-win situation; she said she needed to talk to me about something important, and I was badly in need of her face-to-face moral support before my date with Yukari.

A few minutes past 19:00, I opened the door to my apartment to an unexpected sight: Lily in a black dress and stilettos.

"Excuse the fuck out of me for intruding," she called out. It was obvious that she'd subverted the routine etiquette phrase on purpose simply to mess with me, but rather than give her the satisfaction, I decided to play along.

"It's not like anyone's stopping you from barging in." That response earned me a stuck-out tongue and a pulled-down eyelid.

Lily looked surprisingly stunning. Of course, she would have looked gorgeous wearing a burlap bag, but this was impressive even by her standards. I couldn't remember seeing the dress before, which meant that it was probably new. The section that normally would have covered her stomach was cut away, exposing her toned abs and pierced bellybutton, and the plunging neckline showed off plenty of cleavage. Instead of allowing her golden hair to fall free, Lily had worked part of it into braids, which she wore circled around her head. It was clear that she'd put even more effort into her appearance than usual. I wondered which one of her half-dozen-strong harem had drawn the lucky straw for the evening.

"You certainly do clean up nicely," I said. "That dress really suits you, what there is of it. But what's the occasion for showing up on my doorstep practically naked? It won't get you into my panties, if that's what you're hoping."

"You flatter yourself, jerk," she said with her usual insolent grin, kicking off her heels in the entryway. "I certainly didn't wear this 'fuck me' outfit for your benefit, because you're not the one I'm going to be getting horizontal with tonight. That honor belongs to my date for the evening. Believe it or not, you're not the only one who got asked out."

I decided to ignore the lurid word picture of Lily in a love hotel bed.

"Really? Have I met him?"

"Oh, you know who it is, but more about that later." She gestured toward the damp towel wrapped around my hair. "You're a fine one to mock my dress, given how little you're wearing yourself."

Her point was well-taken. I'd only gotten out of the shower a few minutes before she arrived, so I was still in my bathrobe.

"Sorry. I've running behind all evening. The mother of my 18:00 student caught me on the way out. Normally, that woman wouldn't give me the time of day, but today of all days she wanted a full report. If she didn't pay me so well…argh. Whatever. Hey, I could use a little help with my hair, if it's not too much trouble."

"No prob. Got any tea?"

"In the carafe on the kitchen counter. I made it before I took my shower, so it's fresh. Bring one for me, too, please."

I was sitting in front of my bedroom mirror when Lily appeared with two mugs, one of which she set down on the dressing table in front of me.

"One order of tea, black. You gonna go with the usual 'do?" She was referring to my normal style of letting my hair hang to my waist and half-braiding the side-tails.

"Yeah, although when I saw what you did with yours, I almost changed my mind. It looks really nice. I like that halo effect, even if it's false advertising."

"It's supposed to be a crown, dumbass, but I'll take the back-handed compliment anyway. I've been feeling like a princess today, so…yeah." She finished with a low chuckle, more to herself than to me. Something in it caught my attention.

"Special date tonight, then?"

For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn I saw Lily blush.

"It's kind of a strange situation, but yeah, it's definitely special."

Setting down her mug, she took the comb from my hand and began to run it gently through my still-damp hair. I wondered if this was what she'd wanted to talk to me about, but despite my curiosity, I didn't press her for more. Lily wasn't one to hold back for long, so I figured she'd eventually let me in on the details.

"As much as we hang out at each other's places, it's been a long time since I've actually been in your bedroom," she said, glancing around at the spartan furnishings: a twin bed, a vanity, and a dresser, with a matching bedspread and curtains in unadorned navy blue. "I'd forgotten how…um, boyish the décor is. That's new, though." She nodded toward a large wall poster of Yukari playing the piano in concert that hung in a frame on the wall by my bed.

"It came with her most recent album," I said, omitting the fact that I'd had to get up at 05:00 to submit one of the first 100 on-line preorders of the album to get it. I didn't need Lily teasing me about being obsessed with Yukari, even though after all that had happened that day, it would have been a fair assessment.

"So you really are going out with her tonight. Huh." Lily sounded like she still didn't quite believe it. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," I lied.

"Bullshit. I can see you trembling. You're nervous as hell, aren't you?"

At first, I was tempted to deny her accusation, but from the look in her eye, I could tell she wouldn't buy it.

"Scared to death."

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," Lily said. "Maybe it'd help if you talk to me about it. That's the main reason I'm here, right? Besides, you still owe me a report on your lunch date."

"Let's get my hair taken care of first," I replied.

One lengthy session with the blow-dryer later, Lily retreated to the edge of my bed with her tea mug, watching and listening while I worked on my half-braids and told her about my afternoon, from the time I left her in the Pavilion through that final conversation with Yukari in the hotel lobby. Most of it was hardly news to her, because between my emails and what she'd learned from Masami-san, she already had the gist of what happened. After I got the whole story out, I confessed my lingering misgivings.

"I'm having a hard time believing this whole thing isn't a joke," I said. "I keep expecting someone to pop around a corner with a TV camera and tell me I've been punked. And I'm still not a hundred percent clear on exactly what there is between us. I mean, what if I'm misreading her, and all she wants is my friendship?"

After a long moment, Lily let out a weary sigh.

"You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Thinking too much," she said, placing her empty tea mug on the nightstand and leaning forward to force eye contact. "Listen to me, Ia. Yuzuki-san is totally into you. You're not imagining it – it's a fact. Masami-san even confirmed it. Apparently, Yuzuki-san was bombarding her with emails saying how wonderful you are, among other things. And get this: Masami-san even had to talk Yuzuki-san out of making up some excuse to get out of her engagement with the Board this evening. It seems she didn't want to wait until 21:00 to see you again. Masami-san says she's never seen her boss act this way. Tonight's going to go just fine, I'm telling you."

"You're saying all the right things, so why am I not as sure about this as you are?" I pressed my fingers to my temples, as if massaging them could make my anxiety magically disappear. It didn't work. "You're always so confident when it comes to love and sex. I'm not like you, Lily."

"Well, yeah, normally that's true, but tonight even Masuda Lily, the NSO's very own love goddess, is a little out of her depth." After forcing out a tight laugh, she looked away, twiddling her fingers in her lap. The blush I was pretty sure I'd seen before returned, and there was no mistaking it this time. It was a rare display indeed for a woman who had as little shame as anyone I'd ever known. "Remember how I said tonight was going to be a bit unusual? Um, so…what would you say if I told you my date is a girl?"

I looked at her suspiciously, wondering if this was yet another prank. But while Lily had needled me about everything imaginable during our long friendship, she had never once made light of things like gender identity or sexual orientation. When I'd finally had the courage to come out to her all those years ago, our friendship never missed a beat. So I decided that her statement must have been absolutely serious. And then it dawned on me.

"It's Masami-san, right?" It was the only name I could come up with that made sense. "I guess this is what you wanted to tell me about."

"Bingo. So, yeah…I mean, I haven't gone out with another woman since, like, ever, so I kind of hoped you would give me some pointers, seeing that you're the only one I can ask about girl-on-girl kinds of things."

If Lily hoped to distract me from my apprehension over the upcoming evening with Yukari, she'd done a good job of it – too good, in fact. When a friend you're convinced is heterosexual tells you she's going on a date with another woman, and not only expects the evening to end in hot lesbian sex but is looking forward to it, it's not exactly a minor revelation. I honestly didn't know what to say, so I just stared back at her, trying to wrap my mind around it all.

"You seem like you're having trouble with this," Lily said, eyeing me warily. "To be honest, that kind of surprises me. I figured that of all people, you'd be more accepting."

I couldn't keep my reply from sounding bitchy.

"Well, excuse me for needing a moment to regroup. I thought you were straight, Lily. Or have you been lying to me all this time?"

"If I have to put a label on myself, then yes, I'm straight," Lily said, reacting to my snark with surprising calm. "Sorry, Ia. I wish there was a simple way to explain what's going on between Masami-san and me, but there isn't. All I can tell you is that she may very well be the one gay hiccup in my straight existence. And even then, I'm not really sure if that's true. That's kind of the point of going out with her tonight, to find if she's the one exception."

"Only one? What if you like being with a woman? How many more 'exceptions' will there be? And how am I supposed to interpret your jokes and innuendo now?"

At first, Lily appeared hurt by the bitterness in my voice, but after a moment, the light of comprehension dawned on her face.

"If you're worried about me suddenly seeing you differently, don't. I can't speak for you, but for me, nothing's going to change between us. We've been together forever, and you've never so much as made me tingle. That's no different right this minute, even though you're one pull of the robe belt from being completely naked. It ain't gonna happen, Ia. Besides, you'd be the shittiest lover imaginable."

I bristled at the perceived insult.

"How the hell would you know what I'm like in bed? Of all the –"

"Sorry, that came out wrong," Lily interrupted, waving her hands in protest. "I meant that we'd be no good together as lovers, because we'd drive each other crazy. We're much better as friends, because we need that kind of space to get along. You're the best friend I've ever had, Ia, and the most important. I don't want to lose what we have right now, because I could never replace it as long as I lived."

Leave it to Lily to make me feel like a fool for overreacting. Even though I knew she loved me, she normally had a funny way of showing it, and it wasn't often that I got such a forthright statement of how much our friendship meant to her. Of course, she wouldn't have been Lily if she hadn't immediately and completely ruined the warm, fuzzy mood with a perverted wisecrack.

"Besides, you're not my type. Your tits aren't big enough…although I'll admit the last time I groped-…erm, inspected them, they were certainly firm enough. Time to update my database." She stood up from the bed, and with an exaggerated mad-scientist cackle, took a step toward me, wiggling her fingers suggestively. "Come on, Ia, be a good girl and let Lily-oneesama examine your boobs."

"Don't touch my chest, you perverted bitch!" With a scowl, I clamped my hands protectively over the front of my bathrobe. "Save the octopus routine for your date. And don't go calling yourself my 'onee-sama.' Didn't you just say I wasn't girlfriend material?"

"Who said anything about romance? This is plain old sexual harassment." After another second or two of finger-wiggling, Lily let loose a deep, throaty guffaw, and sat back down on the bed. "Thank you ever so much for reacting. You never fail to disappoint me."

As tempting as it was to tell her to kiss my ass, I was afraid she'd actually try it, so I swallowed the snappy comeback. Still, I had to admit that Lily's shenanigans had done the trick, because I felt my distress and confusion recede. But even so, I had one more question.

"Why Masami-san?"

Lily shrugged.

"That's a good one." She paused for a moment to think. "It's not so much that she's gorgeous, because I've been around plenty of truly beautiful women in my life, including you…" I tried to protest her compliment, but she ignored me and kept right on talking. "…and I never even felt a tremor. Dry as a bone, every time. And yet she's different somehow. Maybe it's the way she carries herself, I don't know, or the way she glows when she looks at me. Remember that j-pop song from a while back, the MikuLuka duet that had everyone buzzing?"

"You mean  _Magnet_? Sure, I remember it. Gayest song since  _I Don't Do Boys_. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It sounds crazy and perverted, but I've been hearing that damned song in my head since I met her this morning. I can't help it." Lily's eyes fluttered closed, and she smiled, as if lingering over the memory. "When she came back out to talk to me, after she took you to see Yuzuki-san, I bought her that milk tea. It turned into lunch, and then I tagged along while she ran errands. That's how we wound up in Bunkyou. I can't explain why I see her differently, other than that she's the right combination of smooth, smart, and sexy. By the time we were on the train home,  _Magnet_ was playing on infinite loop in my brain. That's how intense my emotions were, and that scared me, because, well, she's not a guy. But still, I can't help really wanting to find out what it would be like to be with her. If I was the sort of girl to obsess over my sexuality – Am I gay? Bi? Pan? Only bi-curious? – I'd probably wind up talking myself out of tonight, but I'm not exactly the thinking kind. That's your department. So I'm just going to do what I always do."

"Wing it, and hope for the best?"

"Exactly. Wing it, and hope for the best." Her eyes opened again, and she turned them on me; they gleamed with a sense of purpose I rarely saw from her. "It wouldn't hurt you to do the same with Yuzuki-san. Think about it. You've got a date with the famous pianist you've lusted after for years – the one whose picture you have hanging on your wall." She pointed to the framed poster of Yukari. "She wants you just as much as you want her. Unless you pull a really dumb move, like puking on her shoes or something, you're going to get laid. You've always wanted this, so now's not the time for second-guessing. Quit navel-gazing and embrace the fantasy."

Lily sounded so absolutely convinced that what she was saying was true that I began to let go of my reservations. As it finally sank in that I was more than likely going to end the night in Yukari's arms, my hormones began to surge. It was something I wanted badly, but had hardly dared to hope for. Still, Lily had an annoying way of making the sublime sound ridiculous, even when she was trying to be encouraging.

"Geez, you don't have to make it sound so…cheap."

"It doesn't matter what words I use to describe it, it's reality. If you back out now, it'd be like hitting a ¥100 million lottery and refusing to claim the prize because you weren't sure how to spend it."

"I never said I was backing out," I countered. "Only that I…oh, never mind. Look, are you going to give me a few minutes of privacy or what? I need to get dressed."

"I'll give you ¥2,000 if you let me stay and watch." Lily's grin was even more insolent than usual. "I'll up it to ¥10,000 if you let me take that robe off myself."

"What am I, a soap girl? Keep your money, you perverted old man."

"Some friend," Lily said, putting on her best fake pout. "She can't even handle a bit of harmless skinship. Fine. I'll be waiting in the living room. We might as well head over together, since we both have to be at the hotel at the same time." When she reached the doorway, she turned back toward me to deliver her parting shot. "Remember to wear lacy underwear." When I stared blankly at her, she added, "If you were serious, you'd go commando, like me, because what a girl doesn't wear is almost as important as what she does wear. But since you're too much of a coward to go without lingerie, make it cute, frilly, and preferably black. It'll give Yuzuki-san something interesting to tear off your body."

"Get out, dammit!"

I reinforced the demand by launching my hairbrush in Lily's general direction, but she dodged it easily, and retreated through the door, slamming it shut behind her. Ignoring her muffled laughter, I focused instead on pulling together my outfit for the evening: a black, off-the-shoulder crop-top that I'd matched with a pleated, low-rise miniskirt in contrasting salmon. I hadn't worn that outfit in a while, but it had turned its share of heads in the past, and I was convinced it would have the same effect on Yukari.

 _It'll be a cold day in hell before I follow Lily's advice,_  I thought, pulling a leopard-pattern push-up bra and a black thong from my underwear drawer.  _If it I left it up to her, she'd have me looking like a prostitute._

But after I shrugged off my bathrobe and stood naked in front of the mirror, I began to reconsider.

 _What would turn Yuzuki-san on the most?_ I imagined her reaction as she palmed my unrestrained breasts through my top, or ran those long, elegant fingers up under my skirt, only to find nothing but bare skin. At the very thought of her hands on me, I felt the heat of arousal begin to build deep inside. I wasn't even touching my nipples, and yet they hardened all on their own as I pictured Yukari pulling up my top to take one between her teeth, and telling me what a dirty girl I was for not wearing any panties.

The mental image was enough to convince me that just this once, Lily might be onto something. I put the underwear back in the drawer, and after pulling on the rest of my outfit, headed for the living room without looking back.


	3. Passacaglia

Lily and I walked through the Imperial Minato Hotel's revolving front door at a couple minutes past 21:00. Neither Yukari nor Gumi were anywhere to be seen, so we stationed ourselves in the same waiting area where Yukari and I had parted that afternoon, trying not to look as impatient as we felt.

As I stared holes into my phone's touchscreen, willing the time display to move past 21:02, I found myself unable to stop fidgeting. My restlessness wasn't due to nerves – thanks to Lily's encouragement, those had long since settled – but to anticipation, which was rising steadily with each passing minute.

An hour or so earlier, I'd gotten a surprisingly affectionate email from Yukari saying the Board dinner had ended, and that she couldn't wait to see me again. To get such a message from her was a rush in itself, but it was the final line that had sent my hormones into a spiral:

_You will never, ever forget tonight! I'll make sure of it!_

The promise in those words had my imagination in overdrive. I was tempted to read them yet again, but I fought off the urge to open the email, knowing that it would only make me even more anxious to be reunited with her. As things already stood, I felt like a child who'd been promised a bagful of her favorite candy, only to be tortured by having it held maddeningly out of reach for hours on end.

Meanwhile, Lily paced back and forth nearby, threatening to wear a hole into the waiting area carpet. She looked as jumpy as I felt.

"Is my hair okay?" She paused her forced march long enough to inspect herself in the reflection of the lobby's glass wall. "I mean, nothing's out of place, is it?"

With a weary sigh, I stuffed my cell back into my purse. Like many women, Lily was her own worst critic, but she had no reason to be, especially with that almost-dress clinging to her model-like figure. Even so, for a fleeting moment, I thought about saying,  _Oh, my God, one of your braids is loose, and it looks hideous!_ It would serve her right after all the teasing I'd endured at her hands, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. We were both taking this evening far too seriously to play those kinds of games.

"Your halo is still as angelic it was the last time you asked, oh, two minutes ago," I said, smiling to soften the sarcasm a bit. "Look, would you stop worrying? It's not like you."

"Can't help it. This is new territory for me."

As much as I sympathized with Lily's anxiety, deep down I wanted to strangle her with her viola strings. On the Metro ride to Roppongi, I'd finally found out why she just happened to be meeting Gumi at the exact time and place I was meeting Yukari: she wanted the four of us to go out as a group. Her excuse was that she didn't want to take Gumi to any of her regular night spots for fear of running into one or more of her sizable group of male admirers. Knowing that I intended to invite Yukari to my usual hang-out in Shinjuku Ni-choume, she begged me to allow Gumi and her to tag along.

My first instinct was to refuse. After all, who wants the hottest date of their life to play out in front of an audience? Still, I could tell that my normally carefree best friend was completely off her game, and no matter how she tried to spin it, deep down she needed me to be there for her, at least until she was sure of herself with Gumi. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dreamed of intruding on Yukari and me. So in the end, I wound up giving in, but that didn't mean I was completely happy about the situation.

"You owe me for this, Lily. And you'd better not embarrass me in front of Yuzuki-san, either. I know how you get when you've been drinking. No 'wardrobe malfunctions' tonight, got it?"

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but immediately snapped it shut again when an electronic chime echoed across the lobby. Our conversation instantly forgotten, we both whipped around to face the bank of elevators along the far wall.

When I took one look at the two women who stepped out of the arriving elevator, a huge lump formed in my throat. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It didn't matter, though, because Lily's hoarse whisper captured my reaction perfectly.

"Holy shit."

It was Yukari and Gumi, all right, but what an unbelievable contrast from the last time I'd seen either of them.

Lily was reacting to Gumi, and I could see why. The suit-clad professional of earlier in the day had transformed into something akin to a siren. She was wearing a form-fitting, sleeveless vest that showed off plenty of skin. It barely contained her ample chest, which appeared to be one bounce away from tearing the garment open in the front. Rounding out the ensemble was a pair of black, low-rise cargo pants that were stuffed into black leather high-heeled boots. Her wavy, jaw-length emerald shag hung loose, partially obscuring her eyes and giving her a wild, untamed aura.

Lily's hand clutched at my upper arm, her nails biting so deeply into my bicep that they threatened to draw blood.

"Oh. My. God." Her whisper morphed into a low groan. "Fuck. I think I just came, and all I did was look."

Ignoring Lily's sudden burst of inelegant hyperbole, I shook free of her death-grip. Gumi was hot – there was no debating the point – but she didn't make anywhere near the impression on me that her companion did.

The woman with Gumi was obviously Yukari, but I didn't recognize her at first because she had on a black knit skullcap and matching horn-rimmed hipster glasses. After a puzzled moment, I realized why she was wearing them. Even though classical musicians aren't typically recognized on the streets of Japan the way j-pop stars are, you never know who you'll meet. The last thing Yukari needed was to be spotted on the streets of Tokyo in the middle of a date with another woman. Without some sort of disguise, her distinctive violet ponytails would be a dead giveaway. But now, the tails were safely stuffed up under the skullcap with the rest of her hair, and she looked totally different from usual, at least from the neck up.

As for the rest of her…let's just say I was Pavlov's dog, and that the elevator chime was my signal to drool.

Yukari's jeans, bleached almost white and distressed to the point of showing skin through the tears on the thighs, were so deliciously tight that they appeared airbrushed across her slender hips, and so tantalizingly low-rise that they barely covered her mound. The black cotton a-shirt she'd chosen as a top clung to her as closely as the jeans did, and was cropped high enough to show a wide swath of her lower abs. I gazed with longing at the exposed skin, wondering how it would taste, and what sounds she'd make when I dragged my lips over it.

A cute little soft butch – that's how I'd always remember my impression of Yukari in that moment. From the tip of that skullcap to the soles of her bright purple sneakers, she was just my type. And I wanted her more than ever.

After a brief search of the lobby, Yukari's and Gumi's faces lit up in recognition when they caught sight of us, and they began walking across the polished granite toward the waiting area in a manner I could only describe as sultry. I heard Lily muttering something, but it didn't register. For me, just one other person existed: the girl with the glasses, whose every step toward me ratcheted the heat in my groin another degree upward.

One heartbeat, then a second, and a third, and they were standing in front of us. There was a long moment of silence while Yukari's gaze caressed me like fingers on my naked skin. My abs began to clench, and I breathed a prayer to any god who'd listen to let that metaphor become reality before the night was over.

"H-hi." I finally stammered out a greeting as the flush crept up the back of my neck again. Despite how freely we'd conversed over lunch, I now seemed unable to find two words to say this woman I desired so fiercely without blushing like crazy. At 22, I was certainly no maiden, but something in Yukari made me feel like I was fifteen again, trembling in the presence of my first love, the girl who'd taught me the true meaning of desire.

"Hey, there. You, um, look so…pretty tonight." The supreme confidence Yukari had displayed when I'd last seen her was strangely absent, replaced by eager uncertainty, as if she was the gender-bent version of a junior high school boy on his first date. "Your skirt…I, uh, like how it fits you." With a mournful glance downward, she motioned toward her shirt and jeans. "I knew I should've worn a dress. Look at me – I'm like a homeless person."

"No!" The word came out more forcefully than I'd intended, so in a much gentler voice, I added, "Don't say that. You're totally cute in that outfit."

At the word "cute," Yukari blushed as deeply as me, and waved a dismissive hand. It appeared as if she wanted to say something, but for whatever reason, no words came. I smiled, not because I'd struck her speechless, but because she looked so adorable when she was flustered.

The moment we shared didn't last long, thanks to Gumi, whose personal assistant's instincts kicked in.

"Okay, we need to get moving. No offense to present company, but I'm with the hottest girl in Japan…" – here she nodded toward Lily – "…and I've been waiting all day to dance with her."

For a change, Lily had no comeback. She was too busy reacting to the flattery by nibbling her bottom lip, thrusting out her chest, and otherwise sending off every nonverbal signal in the book that she considered herself Gumi the Huntress' very willing quarry.

"Dancing, a few drinks…that all sounds excellent," Yukari said, fixing me with another one of those devastating smiles. "But Gumi-chan and I aren't all that familiar with Tokyo nightlife, so it's up to you guys."

"No worries – my bestie knows just the place," Lily said, finally finding her voice, and throwing an arm around my shoulder for good measure. "Ain't that right?"

"Club Naiad is where I usually go. It's, uh, in Nichou." I glanced uneasily back and forth between Yukari and Gumi. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not for me," Gumi said with a grin. "It definitely won't be the first time I've been to a le-…" She caught herself in mid-word, glancing around to make sure she wasn't overheard. "…I mean, a women-only club. I don't know about the boss lady, though." She raised an eyebrow at Yukari. "You okay with this?"

"I'm not sure why you'd even ask." Yukari frowned at Gumi, as if to suggest it was a silly question, but her assistant merely shrugged in response.

"Just making sure, that's all."

"Geez, Gumi-chan, you already know I went underground clubbing when I was in college, at least when I wasn't playing out of town gigs." Yukari turned to speak to me again, and the frown was gone. "I don't mind going to Nichou, if that's what you want. With the hat and glasses, no one can tell who I am, so as long as we're discreet, I should be fine."

"Sounds like four 'yes' votes to me," Lily said, preempting further discussion. "Now that that's settled, let's not waste any more time. The night isn't getting any younger while we stand around shooting the shit. Let's go, gorgeous." She grabbed Gumi by the hand, and the two of them began walking toward the hotel entrance, bantering back and forth as they went.

After they disappeared outside, I said, "That Lily…she doesn't even know where Club Naiad is. We'd better follow them before the big blonde idiot drags Masami-san onto the wrong Metro line."

I took a step toward the door, only to feel Yukari's hand wrap around my wrist, pulling me back.

"Why so fast? There's no rush. They can't go very far on those heels." I turned back to find Yukari grinning at me. "Besides, we finally have a moment alone. I've been waiting for that all evening."

Yukari had clearly gotten over her initial bout of nerves, and was now as warm and cheerful as she'd been at lunch. But I still couldn't relax. The butterflies that had invaded my body when I first saw her that morning had returned with reinforcements, and when her eyes met mine, the entire swarm suddenly decided to stage a mass dogfight in the pit of my stomach. Their perpetual motion made it damned near impossible for me to think clearly, let alone hold up one end of a conversation.

"Me, too," I said, fidgeting nervously. "Hey, uh, sorry about that, um…yeah. It's just that…well, I thought we'd be by ourselves tonight, and then Lily…"

My words trailed off when Yukari abruptly let go of my arm and held a finger up in front of my lips.

"Don't. We can't change the situation, so let's just roll with it. It's not as bad as it seems, you know? I mean, at least we'll get a few laughs out of those two." With a smirk, she wrapped her arm around mine, much like she'd done in her dressing room earlier, but this time she clung to me much more tightly. The firmness of her small breasts against my arm turned my mouth desert-dry. "And anyway, they won't be with us the whole night, not if I can help it. When they start dancing, I give them maybe fifteen minutes before they find some excuse to leave. So the sooner they're out on the floor, the sooner I have you all to myself again. Which is sort of the point to this whole evening, if you get my drift."

I did, and so did the butterflies, which promptly began a mass migration from my stomach to my uterus.

"I…uh, I…I think…" I almost gave in to the surge of estrogen, which was urging me to say,  _I think we should forget the club and go right upstairs to your room._ Fortunately, my brain fought off the attempt to jam its signals. Despite my body's clear and insistent demands, this wasn't just about sex. I wanted Yukari to woo me, to pursue me. To make me feel wanted. To sense how much I wanted her in return. I much preferred that our mating dance be a long, sensuous tango rather than ten minutes in the mosh pit. Still, it took near-superhuman effort to spit the words out.

"I think we'd better go, before Lily has Masami-san on a train for god-knows-where." As if on cue, I heard Lily's alert tone jangling from inside my purse. "Speak of the devil…"

_Which Metro line, Hibiya or Nanboku? And where the hell are you two? You're holding everything up!_

Yukari giggled when I showed her Lily's email.

"She's sounds impatient, doesn't she? I can understand why. To be honest, she's not the only one who wants to rub up against a certain pretty girl on the dance floor." She squeezed my arm even tighter as we walked toward the door. "You owe me at least one dance."

The thought of our bodies molded together made me gulp audibly.

"Only one?"

"One is all we'll need," Yukari answered with a low, throaty chuckle.

Deep inside, the butterflies began to dance for joy.

* * *

It took us about a half hour to get to Club Naiad, which was buried in the maze of side streets surrounding Shinjuku station, about four kilometers from the Imperial Minato. Like many smaller establishments in Ni-choume, you had to know where to look for it. For a regular like me, that wasn't a problem. I'd spent so much time at the club that I could probably find my way there blindfolded.

The unmarked front entrance was located on the first floor of an otherwise nondescript office building. When I knocked twice, the door opened to reveal the bouncer, a tall, intimidating biker butch in black leather and chains who stared down at the four of us, sizing us up.

"Welcome to Club Naiad. May I help you?" When she took a closer look at me, the light of recognition dawned, and a wintry smile flickered across her lips for an instant. "Oh, hey, Akasaka-san, welcome back. It's been a while." After I returned her greeting, she gestured toward the others. "Friends of yours?"

"Yeah." I introduced my companions, ending with, "…and Yuzuki-san." The woman nodded curtly at Lily and Gumi, but when she caught sight of my hand clasped in Yukari's, her smile grew a bit broader.

"Okay, since they're here with you, everyone gets the regular-customer discount," she told me, holding out her hand expectantly. "That'll be ¥1,000 apiece. Oh, and Mama-san's added a two-drink minimum since you were here last, so there's that." After Lily and I had produced the required bills, the bouncer waved the cash toward the interior of the facility. "The front's dead tonight, so you have your pick of seats. There's more action in the back. Have fun."

Although large by Ni-choume standards, Club Naiad wasn't nearly the size of the big nightspots near Shinjuku Station. Not counting a two-stall lavatory and a tiny kitchen, it amounted to just two large rooms. The one we'd entered, the lounge, contained a well-stocked bar with half a dozen stools, along with booths and tables that seated a further two dozen or so. To the right of the bar was the doorway to the back room, which housed the dance floor, the DJ booth, and several more tables. Judging from the bass line thumping through the floorboards, the DJ was mixing techno tracks that night.

As the bouncer had said, the lounge was nearly deserted. Four of the bar stools were occupied, but the booths and tables were all empty. We claimed the booth furthest from the bar, knowing that the dim lighting and relative isolation would guarantee us a measure of privacy, at least until the place started filling up later on. It was a good move, because Lily promptly draped herself over Gumi's shoulder like a black-and-blonde human cape, and her companion responded with an arm around Lily's waist, pulling her close.

 _Geez, they aren't wasting any time,_ I thought. I was tempted to scold them for being too forward, but when Yukari followed Lily's lead by molding her hip and thigh to mine, I suddenly cared a lot less about appearances.

"Attention shoppers." Lily sounded as if she was making an announcement over a department store public address system. "Masuda needs a Cosmo. That is all."

With a chuckle, Gumi suggested that we order bar food, as well.

"To absorb the booze. You know, so Lily-chan doesn't end up under the table."

"Wouldn't be the first time I wound up on my knees during a date," Lily shot back. I winced at rudeness of her remark, but before I could say anything, both Gumi and Yukari burst into laughter. Relieved that they'd taken Lily's crude joke in stride, I nevertheless figured I'd better steer the conversation back on topic before she said something even less appropriate.

"They've got decent grilled skewers and fried tofu here. Those would definitely hit the spot. I think Yuzuki-san's the only one of us who's eaten."

"Actually, I haven't," Yukari grumbled. "Salty miso and rubbery mackerel…ugh. Barely edible. You'd think they'd have better food at those dinners. I didn't have any appetite, anyway. Too busy smiling at the old, rich people and wishing I was someplace where the company was a lot, um…prettier." Her hand found mine under the table and squeezed it gently.

"We'll get enough for everybody," I decided, squeezing back and hoping my voice didn't sound too shaky.

* * *

Forty-five minutes and two quick rounds of drinks later, the four of us were well on our way to losing that typically Japanese wall of reserve.

Lily appeared to have long since gotten over her uncertainty, and was now flirting as shamelessly with Gumi as she did with the men she dated. The two seemed totally relaxed with each other, and their easy rapport had in turn driven away the initial awkwardness between Yukari and me. In retrospect, the fact that they'd come to the club with us had worked for everyone. I made a mental note to thank Lily later for her unintentional services as wingman.

As for Yukari and me, our boundaries had grown quite soft indeed. By her second rum and coke, not only had she insisted that we move to a first-name basis, she'd also gotten quite generous with body contact, sliding her arm around my shoulders and waist during those moments when we shared a laugh or a quiet word, or seeking out my hand with her own under the table. She'd even fed me the occasional pork skewer, something I didn't usually agree to in public, even with serious girlfriends. It was Yukari, so how could I refuse?

Sober me would no doubt have been a bit embarrassed by all this, but after inhaling two plum wine coolers in quick succession, I no longer gave a damn about what anyone else thought. I was too wrapped up in Yukari, reveling in the attention she lavished on me. Nothing else mattered but her. She had me besotted, powerless to resist anything she said or did.

Fueled by the alcohol, and egged on by Lily – who didn't show a lot of restraint even when sober – the group conversation grew quite animated. Actually, "raucous" was a better word for it. To be fair, Lily and Gumi did most of the talking. Yukari and I were too busy laughing at their combined outrageousness to add much to the discussion.

Eventually, the topic got around to dancing.

"I don't get why they have a minimum at a place like this," the blonde said, her voice soft around the edges from the pair of Cosmos she'd knocked back. "I mean, come on. Why would I go to a goddamned bar and not drink? I can't get loose on a dance floor without alcohol."

"Same for me, but I don't need that much to get going." Despite matching Lily beer-for-Cosmo, Gumi appeared to be as sober as a judge. She surveyed her newly-empty bottle of Asahi approvingly. "Two of these and a good beat…that's more than enough for me to find my groove."

"Oh, did you lose it?" Lily's voice dripped with false innocence. "I'd love to help search your groove. I mean, search  _for_ it. Your groove, that is." The mischievous glint in her eye left no doubt in my mind that the verbal slip had been fully intentional. Gumi appeared to realize this quite well, because she matched Lily's smirk with one of her own.

"And how exactly do you propose to do conduct this search, as if I didn't hope?"

When Lily whispered her reply in Gumi's ear, the buxom woman's eyes widened.

"You are such a goddamned tease, Lily-chan." A wolfish smile crept over Gumi's lips. "I need to get you out on the dance floor and see if that fine ass of yours can walk the talk."

The reply was vintage Lily sass.

"Is this a hands-on inspection? Because if it isn't, I'll be totally fucking disappointed." She began to nudge Gumi out of the booth. "Come on, stud, it's time to dance, and by 'dance' I mean grope each other's asses in front of everyone else. And maybe boobs, too, if we can do it without getting thrown out." She raised a questioning eyebrow at Yukari and me. "You guys coming along?"

When I turned to Yukari, I discovered her gaze on me again. To my surprise, there was such ardor in it that I could barely maintain eye contact. I wasn't sure why she was looking at me that way all of a sudden, but I definitely didn't dislike it.

"I've been ready since we got here," Yukari replied, directing her words toward Lily, but keeping her focus on me.

"It's go-time. Try to keep up with Gumi-chan and me…if you can. Which I doubt." With a sly wink and a flip of her hair, Lily followed Gumi toward the dance floor entrance before I could come up with the crushing retort her taunt deserved.

After sliding out of the booth, Yukari flashed another of her sunny smiles – did she have any idea how powerless I was to resist them? – and held out her hand. "Your pal Masuda-san's got a bit of an edge to her. But we're not going to let her and Gumi-chan show us up, are we?"

"Don't worry. Lily's good, but I've got a few moves up my sleeve."

"Oh, trust me, so do I," Yukari said as she led me across the lounge toward the dance floor. "And I think you're going to like them."

* * *

As we pushed through the door to the back room, a sonic wave of techno hit me like a body blow. Bursts of red, blue, and green light radiated from a glitter ball overhead, reflecting off of the lenses of Yukari's fake glasses. The air was thick with the mingled scents of perfume, sweat, cigarette smoke, stale beer, and a tiny hint of feminine arousal.

I looked around for Lily and Gumi, but they'd already disappeared onto the postage-stamp-sized dance floor, and were now somewhere among the dozen or so couples moving to the relentless four-on-the-floor beat. Their collective body heat made the atmosphere almost unbearably stuffy, to the point where beads of sweat began to form on my forehead.

Without breaking stride, Yukari led me straight into the crowd. When she finally found enough space for the two of us, she spun around to face me and began to sway in time with the music, which had just segued to a down-tempo jam. Her eyes locked onto mine, issuing an unspoken challenge.

_Impress me._

I responded by moving closer, syncing the movements of my hips and shoulders to hers. That earned me a speculative smile, so I decided to take things a step further by lacing my fingers into the hair at the back of my head and arching my back, thrusting out my breasts until they almost touched Yukari's. Her eyes broke contact and flicked downward to my cleavage, lingering there for a long moment before drifting upward. The desire on her face was almost feral.

I had to wonder: was it possible for a woman to climax from a single, smoldering glance? It had never happened to me, but then I'd never had anyone look at me with such need before. Yukari's psychic energy flowed across the narrow space between us like a heat ray, burning into my deepest parts, melting those butterflies that had plagued me all day into a white-hot lava flow of arousal.

I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted – no,  _needed_ – her to touch me.

Twisting around so that I faced away from Yukari, I bent slightly downward, sweeping my hair out of the way to give her an unobstructed view of my backside. It had the exact effect I'd hoped for: her hands found their way to my hips, and she ground against my rear end from behind. At the contact, I let out a low moan that – thankfully – no one but me could hear amid the cacophony that surrounded us. Still gyrating my butt against her, I leaned backward until her breasts met my shoulder blades. Her hands slid around to my stomach, stroking the bare skin above the waistband of my skirt as her hips slid up and down over my clenching glutes. The back of my hand made it to my mouth just in time to stifle a second, much louder moan, as hot moisture began pooling between my thighs.

Quick as thought, Yukari spun me around to face her again, and her hands found their way back to my hips. I responded by resting my forearms on either side of her neck. We danced like this for who knew how long, our bodies millimeters from touching, our hands occasionally wandering. The entire time, Yukari's eyes never left mine. Not that I could look away – even through the black hipster frames, those violet depths had me firmly by the soul. Everything else – the other dancers, the music, the club itself – faded to black, leaving Yukari and me alone in our own private universe.

Then, in a single, galvanizing moment, that universe tilted on its axis when Yukari leaned in to kiss me.

It was only a gentle, lingering touch of the lips, but it sent my head spinning. Suddenly, it didn't matter where we were; I had to taste Yukari again. Still moving with the music, I reached out to stroke her cheeks and jawline, then cupped her face in my hands and pulled her to me, capturing her upper lip between my own, massaging it ever so gently for a moment before doing the same with her lower lip. Then my tongue sought out hers, twirling around it sensuously. Then I did it all again, this time in a different order, and yet again, over and over. I didn't want to stop – Yukari's soft, sweet mouth was a drug, and my addiction was instantaneous – but we eventually pulled apart, gasping for breath. With a jolt, I realized that we'd stopped dancing, and were standing there each other's arms, lost in the sensations. Several of the women around us grinned knowingly, and one or two flashed us the victory sign, but before I could even think of being embarrassed, Yukari grabbed me by the hand and practically dragged me off the dance floor.

When we made it back to the relative quiet of the lounge, I could finally ask, "Hey, where are we going? Was that our one dance?" I devoutly hoped so, because as far as I was concerned, all that remained was for Yukari and me to get each other alone so we could bring things to their much-anticipated conclusion.

"Yeah, we're leaving," Yukari replied. Her voice sounded as shaky as my legs felt. "But I've got to go, um…freshen up first."

"I'll keep you company," I said, catching her hint.

* * *

Without bothering to check if the restroom was deserted – which it was, fortunately – Yukari immediately hauled me into one of the stalls. After slamming the door shut and latching it, she pushed me against the wall, winding herself around me like a vine on a trellis.

"Wow…just, wow," she breathed, her eyelids hooded with undisguised lust. "I never thought it could be like this. Nobody ever kissed me the way you do."

Somehow, I managed to stutter out a response, even though her warmth was turning my brain to mush.

"S-…s-…seriously? N-nobody?"

"No," she replied. "Nobody. Oh, God, Ia-san, kiss me again!"

Before I could answer, she crushed her lips against mine, and the unbearable sexual tension that had been building between us the entire day finally burst forth like a jets of water through a failing dam.

Overcome by the flood of raw feelings, Yukari and I clung to each other, shamelessly molding our bodies together, playing our primal duet tongue to tongue, breast to breast, and hip to hip. My mind buckled under the weight of the sensory bombardment: the taste of the rum on Yukari's lips, the floral fragrance of her shampoo, the tingle of her nipples against mine through two layers of clothing, and the firmness of that boyish ass under my hands. Every other kiss I'd ever shared with a lover paled in comparison to what Yukari was doing to me, even my very first.

Suddenly, the restroom door slammed open, obliterating our shared moment of passion and yanking us both back to reality. Yukari clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle my exclamation of surprise, and we froze in mid-embrace, hoping that whoever it was didn't discover us. Seconds crawled by like eons as the unwanted intruder took much longer than I thought was necessary to finish her business. When she finally left, Yukari pulled her hand away from my face, and we both heaved a sigh of relief.

"Geez, that was close," she muttered. "You almost made me lose it with those amazing trumpet-player lips. Seriously, my brain totally switched off." She squirmed out of my arms and took a step backward. "No more, Ia-san. If we keep it up, I won't be able to stop. I want you – God, you have no idea how badly – but not here, and not now."

She had a point. Even though the alcohol had played havoc with my inhibitions, I still had my self-respect underneath it all. As much as I wanted Yukari to make love to me right then, I wasn't about to cheapen the experience by giving it up to her in a shabby bathroom stall in Ni-choume.

"Come home with me, Yukari-san." I decided I could definitely get used to saying that name, particularly in the heat of the moment. "My apartment's only a five-minute walk from here."

"But…but there's a love hotel a block away," she said, throwing me a pout worthy of Lily at her manipulative best. "I don't want to wait. I want you. Now."

The way she said those words nearly made me climax on the spot, but I held firm.

"It doesn't cost anything to stay at my place. Besides…" My voice sank to a low growl. "…you get to do me in my own bed. All night."

With a shuddering sigh, Yukari capitulated.

"Damn your logic, woman." She yanked open the stall door and began to haul me through it. "Hurry. We can shave off a couple minutes if we run."

* * *

As eager as Yukari and I both were, we didn't wind up running to my apartment after all. Not only would it have been undignified, but dangerous, because even though it was approaching 23:00 on a weeknight, Shinjuku's streets were still teeming with both vehicles and pedestrians. Any attempt to move faster than a moderately-paced walk would have quickly turned into a hazard-filled steeplechase. Under the circumstances, Yukari and I had little choice but to navigate our way through the crowds as fast as we could, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that we were arm in arm, practically joined at the hip.

Even so, it didn't take us all that long to reach my building. Once we were safely in the stairwell, out of public view, I pulled Yukari into a short but steamy kiss before leading her in the final sprint up one flight of stairs to my second-floor apartment. Somehow, I got the door unlocked in spite of Yukari's roving hands. Within moments, our shoes lay in a heap in my entryway, and we were standing just inside my living room, finally alone.

We faced each other, enveloped in a silence so dead that I swore I could hear my heart thudding in my chest. Slowly, deliberately, Yukari pulled the black frames from the bridge of her nose. The skullcap followed, allowing the twin side-tails to fall free. After another two heartbeats of silence, the hat and glasses suddenly sailed over her shoulder, and she pounced on me like a tigress seizing her prey, pressing her body so tightly to mine that it seemed as though she was trying to fuse the two of us into a single entity. Her fingers found their way under my blouse, tracing up and down the skin of my back and shoulders, and leaving trails of fire in their wake. Powerless to do anything else, I clung to her as if I was drowning, and in a sense, I was – drowning under a tidal wave of Yukari.

I'm not sure how long we stayed that way – seconds, minutes, hours – but it seemed like forever, and yet not long enough. Just as my knees were about to give out, Yukari broke off the kiss, pulled out of my arms, and walked across the living room to the sofa. With a thump, she flopped down into a sitting position and patted her thighs with her palms.

"Come here."

The hunger in her command turned my legs so rubbery that I wasn't sure I was capable of taking a single step, but my arms felt so empty without her in them that I knew I had to try. Somehow, I made it over to the sofa without falling on my face, and climbed onto Yukari's lap, straddling her knees. My half-braids dangled down onto her chest, their light gray mingling with the violet of her ponytails.

The entire front of my body, from my aching breasts to the bubbling cauldron of lust between my legs, was at Yukari's mercy. If she raised her hands a short distance, every part of me would be hers. And oh, how I craved the touch of those gifted fingers. I stared down at her, silently willing her to explore the glorious treasures that lay waiting under my top and skirt, but she merely smirked back at me, as if daring me to beg her for it. The staring contest lasted only a few seconds before I gave in out of sheer desperation.

"Touch me," I whined, then reclaimed her lips with a ferocity that matched the need consuming me from the inside. Yukari kissed me back just as ravenously, and as our tongues wrestled, she responded to my plea by sliding her hands under my blouse. Her fingertips fluttered over the bare skin of my stomach, causing my abs to spasm with delight, working their way upward with maddening slowness. The anticipation was almost unbearable. Finally, her palms grazed the underside of my mounds, and when she squeezed them gently, I pulled out of our kiss with a gasp.

"You're so sensitive. Hey, Ia-san…" My name again…why was it that every time she purred it in my ear, I shuddered, and got a little closer to coming? "…what happens when I do…this?"

Without warning, her thumbs and index fingers closed around the pebbled tips of my breasts, sending white-hot shards of pleasure tearing through my consciousness. I arched my back, biting my lip in an unsuccessful effort to muffle a groan of satisfaction.

"Oh, my God, that sounded  _so_ hot.  _You're_ so hot." Yukari's eyes bored into the front of my blouse. "And they feel awesome. So round and firm. I want to taste them."

So frantic was I to get her mouth on me that I practically tore the expensive silk material to shreds as I stripped it from my body. Its ragged remains hit the floor, leaving me naked from the waist up, fully exposed for Yukari see.

"They're perfect." She gazed reverently at my breasts, as if they were precious treasures. Then, abruptly, her expression changed, and she looked up at me with a mischievous twinkle and drawled, " _Itadakimasu,_ " before burying her face in my cleavage.

My breath hitched as Yukari launched her glorious assault. She seemed bent on exploring every square millimeter of my swollen, sensitive flesh, driving me perilously close to madness with constant licking and sucking, nibbling and teasing. Threading my fingers into her hair, I gave in to the wonderful impulses that were rippling outward from my breasts to my fingers and toes and back again.

Yukari's caresses quickly pushed me to the brink of release, but before I could implore her to touch me down below, she anticipated my need, almost as if she'd read my mind. As her tongue teased my beleaguered nipples – which were so hard by now that they almost hurt – her hands slid up my thighs and under my skirt, seeking out the clenching muscles of my rear end. After giving them a firm squeeze – which forced yet another hiss of pleasure out of me – her fingers moved still further upwards to my waistband. About the time that I realized what she was searching for, she pulled her face from my chest and grinned up at me.

"No panties? Really, Ia-san, you're such a bad girl."

The words very nearly sent me over the edge.

"Oh hell, yes, I'm a bad girl," I whimpered. "Punish me. Punish your bad girl."

"I should tease you," Yukari said, her voice thick with passion, "but I don't want to. I want to make you come. Does my bad girl want to come?"

My reply was closer to a sob than to actual speech.

"Yes! Please make me come…please…"

With that, one of Yukari's hands pulled from my backside, and a moment later, I felt it snake underneath the front of my skirt. I barely had time to prepare myself before it dove straight into the lake of fire between my thighs.

A loud moan burst from my lips as Yukari's fingers glided through my sopping core and began to work their wizardry. The skilled digits, trained to conquer the most difficult piano pieces ever written, played an excruciating sonata on the diamond-hard nub at the top of my cleft, diving back into the slick between my lips after each glorious phrase to gather more nectar for the next. I leaned forward and braced my hands against the wall behind the sofa, rocking my hips back and forth in time with the motion of Yukari's hand, grunting with each forward thrust: "unh…unh…unh…"

With Yukari hitting all the right spots, there was no way I could last for long. After only a few strokes, my insides suddenly collapsed into a tiny, dense, neutron star of pure pleasure, which burned through me for a long agonizing moment before finally exploding to smithereens.

"Yukari-san…!"

The cry of release thundered through the living room as my body jerked and writhed, twisted and shook, riding out the shockwaves that blasted their way from Yukari's still-moving hand straight to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity, I slumped forward, spent, burying my face in Yukari's shoulder. She responded by pulling her hand from between my thighs and wrapping her arms around me, holding me close. An overwhelming sense of well-being settled over me like a thick, comfortable mantle.

As I lay in Yukari's embrace, drifting downward from the mind-bending climax, I'd never felt so deeply bound to another human being. This was no celebrity crush turned club hook-up, but a lasting emotional connection, I was sure of it. Yuzuki Yukari had claimed me, body and soul, and I now belonged to her. Adoration welled up inside me, overflowing into spoken words.

"I love you, Yukari-san. I love you so much."

There was no immediate response other than a sharp intake of breath near my ear. Then, after several seconds of silence, a pair of hands pushed gently against my stomach.

"Please…get up…"

With a groan, I crawled off of Yukari's lap and leaned back against the sofa cushions, holding my arms out to her, silently beckoning her to me. But to my surprise, she stood up and strode across the room, retrieving her glasses and cap as she went.

"What's going on? What's wrong, Yukari-san?"

Not only did she not answer, she wouldn't even look at me. Instead, she sat down in the entryway to the apartment and began pulling her sneakers on, as if she was preparing to leave. At that point, I realized that something had gone wrong, but I was still a bit disoriented from our lovemaking, so I had a hard time getting my mind around what was happening.

"Yukari-san, talk to me."

She remained silent for several more seconds. Only when her sneakers were neatly tied did she finally stand up and turn to face me. When her eyes met mine, I was stunned to find them brimming with tears.

"Why'd you have to go and say that?"

"What? What did I say?"

"Why'd you have to bring love into this? Telling me you love me…why'd you have to complicate things? How am I supposed to respond?"

Her words were like cold water to the face. Even though I'd meant every word, if I'd been thinking rationally, I would never have confessed out loud. After all, Yukari was leaving Tokyo in three short days. A relationship wasn't possible, even if she felt the same way, which I was pretty sure she didn't. Under the circumstances, why even bother to tell her my feelings? It was far better not to trouble her with them, and to content myself with whatever she was willing to give me. But the orgasm had driven all this from my mind, and by blurting out my thoughts, I'd wound up troubling her anyway.

"I'm so sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "I didn't mean to force myself on you. I'll never say that again. You don't even have to accept. Just being with you is enough for me, even if it's for one night."

Those beautiful eyes, the ones that had such power over me, began to overflow, a tiny droplet running down first one cheek, and then the other.

"You don't get it, do you? Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I want to respond to your feelings? But I can't." She tried to wipe away the dampness, but only succeeded in smearing it all over her cheeks. "I wasn't looking for this – I don't do one-nighters – but when I saw you this morning, I couldn't help myself. I thought, 'It's the girl from Nagoya. She's so hot, and she's totally into me, and I'm so goddamned lonely.' I figured that after a year and a half of going without, one round of casual sex wouldn't kill me. Besides, it'd be over when I left town. No problem, right? But every minute I spent with you today I got in a little deeper. And now I can't lie to myself anymore about this being just a fling, not now that you've forced the issue. As for me…dammit, I don't know  _how_ to react, or even if I should. I'm so confused right now."

I didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter, because Yukari's tears had struck me dumb. Each glistening track was like a razor slashing at my heart. All I could think to do was to touch her, to feel her against me one more time. But when I stood up from the couch and took a step toward her, she held up a hand to stop me.

"Don't. I want to hold you so badly right now, but…don't. It'll only make things worse." She paused to stuff her hair up under the skullcap. Then, after pushing the costume frames back into place, she turned toward the apartment door. "I'm really sorry for doing this, but I need some space. I've got to get my head on straight. I don't want to be on that plane to the States on Sunday, all by myself – again – without knowing if it's worth the pain."

The remnants of my composure finally shredded, and my own tears finally spilled over. Desperate to keep her from leaving, I tossed my dignity aside, begging like a small child for her to stay.

"Please don't go, Yukari-san. I'll say anything, do anything, be anything you want. We don't even need to have sex. Just be with me for one night. Please."

Without turning to face me, she replied, "I'm sorry. Good night, Ia-san. I'll…" I heard her bite back a sob. "…call you."

Through swimming eyes, I watched as the door slammed behind her. I stared at where she'd been standing, telling myself that this was all a bad joke, and that she'd come back inside, take me in her arms, and apologize by making sweet love to me. But as the seconds ticked by, I had to accept that it wasn't going to happen.

The combined weight of embarrassment, regret, and shame became too much to bear, and I sank to my knees, sobbing. I hadn't the faintest idea what to do or think. All I knew is that I belonged in Yukari's arms, and because I'd said the wrong thing at the wrong time, I'd driven those arms from me.

"Yukari-san!" My voice was barely above a whisper. I'm not sure why I called her name, because it wouldn't be enough to bring her back to me, but I couldn't stop myself. "Yukari-san!"

We had a dress rehearsal and a concert the next day. How was I going to face her, much less play music on the same stage as her, without falling to pieces?

 _She said I'd never forget tonight, and she sure as hell was right,_ I thought.  _Oh, God, this can't be happening…_


	4. Rhapsody

With an earsplitting shriek, I catapulted from the nightmare into full consciousness, my body snapping bolt upright from the shock of the transition. At first, I could do nothing but sob, overwhelmed by the intensity of what I'd just experienced.

As with most dreams, the details faded rapidly the moment I awakened, but I was able to recall the gist of it: a fuzzy replay of the previous night's events. Yukari left my arms abruptly, and her departure had torn out my heart. My cries of despair had been the force that propelled me across the border between sleep and awakening.

I slumped back to the mattress, breathing deeply to get myself under control. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the panic and anguish to ebb away. After several long moments, I let out a shuddering sigh – the kind that always seems to slip out at the end of a good cry – as my composure began to return, and along with it my awareness of my surroundings.

Not only was my bedroom pitch-black, but the air was chilly enough to raise gooseflesh. My exposed nipples, which had hardened to the point of discomfort, forcefully reminded me that I was practically naked. Still a bit disoriented, I blinked into the void, wondering why I'd fallen asleep wearing only my skirt. After a moment, it hit me.

_Oh, yeah. Yukari and I were…God, it felt so good…but then I said…and then she…damn._

As the memory of Yukari's sudden departure blended with the residual effect of my dream, my throat began to tighten again.

_No. I will not cry. That won't solve anything. Come on, Akasaka, get a grip._

After wiping my eyes, I fumbled blindly through the unidentified objects on my nightstand before finally finding my cell phone. The display read 04:53 – later than I thought, but still far earlier than I'd normally wake up on a work day.

Too exhausted to do anything about my nakedness for the time being, I pulled up the covers and rolled over, determined to squeeze out two more hours of sleep, hoping it would provide refuge instead of leading to another nightmare. But after tossing and turning for a further hour or so, I gave up the fight. Images of Yukari kept swirling around in my head, defeating any hope of further slumber.

Thinking that my weekday morning routine would help me get my mind off Yukari, at least for a while, I decided to head to the gym a little early, and then come home to practice my trumpet. But ten kilometers on a treadmill did little to banish Yukari's smiling face from my mind. Back home with my trumpet in my hands, things didn't get any better. I was so preoccupied that the session quickly devolved into a mistake-ridden horror show. It was almost as if I'd entirely forgotten how to play. How the hell was I going to earn my paycheck that night?

After putting my trumpet back in its case and setting my music stand aside, I gave up trying to distract myself, and began to pace back and forth through my living room, trying to sort out what had happened between Yukari and me. Statement by statement, I replayed in my mind what she had said.

_Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I want to respond to your feelings?_

The more I mulled over that statement, along with the other things Yukari had said, the more confused I got. On the surface, it had sounded like she wanted me, but her actions hadn't matched her words. After a long while of trying to make sense of it all – without success – I decided that my emotions were still too raw to allow for deep, rational thinking.

What I really needed was a shoulder to cry on, as well as a healthy dose of sound advice. There was only one person I could rely on to give me both without judging me for needing either.

With a flip of my thumb, I scrolled through my phone's contact list until Lily's number showed on the display. But as I prepared to touch the call button, I had second thoughts. It was barely 08:00, which meant that Lily was probably still with Gumi. I definitely didn't want to disturb them, so I wound up sending Lily an email, trying to make it sound urgent without crossing the line to hysterical.

_Hey, sorry for leaving so early last night. Call as soon as you're free. Important._

I didn't expect a response for a couple hours, so I stashed the phone my jeans and wandered out to the kitchen, forcing myself to eat breakfast, even though I didn't have any appetite. Midway through my morning bowl of miso soup, Lily's ringtone – "Habanera," from the opera Carmen – caught me by surprise.

"Yo, Ia!" She sounded even more chipper than she typically did the morning after a hot date. "How're they hangin'? Firm and high, as always?"

Her attempt to get a reaction fell flat, because I wasn't in the mood for the usual banter.

"Whatever."

"'Good morning, Lily, my bestest pal in the whole world,'" she countered, attempting to imitate my voice, and failing miserably. "'Are you doing well this morning?' Why yes, despite a mild hangover, I'm holding my own – thanks ever so much for asking. I can feel the love right through my phone."

"Oh, give it a rest. Anyway, you're up earlier than I expected."

"Yeah, Gumi-chan has stuff to do, so I'm getting ready to do my 'walk of shame' a little sooner than I thought. Although I wonder: is it right to call it a 'walk of shame' if the person you just spent the night with is going to be with you while you're doing it?"

"Wait, you and Masami-san are still together? Ugh. I didn't mean to intrude."

Lily's answer was a sultry purr.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. And hell yeah, we're together. After last night, there's no way she's going to get rid of me. I plan to follow her around all day, except for when I'm working." There was a brief pause, during which I heard Gumi talking in the background, although her words were unintelligible. "She says she's totally fine with that, by the way."

For a moment, the green monster of jealousy slithered through my consciousness. Lily's night with Gumi had obviously gone well. It didn't seem fair. Why couldn't that have been me? I should have been serving Yukari breakfast right then, not sitting there by myself, crying over how everything went wrong.

But I couldn't bring myself to feel any ill will. What had happened last night wasn't Lily's fault, after all. I tried to keep my tone light, and not let my disappointment show.

"So I take it things went well with Masami-san?"

This time, the pause was significantly longer, and when Lily finally broke the silence, she surprised me with the earnestness of her reply.

"They really did. I'm still kind of processing the whole thing, but…yeah, last night was awesome. Gumi-chan made sure I'll never forget it." Then, in an instant, the serious moment passed, and she reverted back to her typical teasing self. "But more about that later. You and Yuzuki-san sure didn't stick around very long at the club. The way you were all over each other, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. So was I right? Did you two spend the night playing pet-the-kitty?"

"Uh…sort of."

I could hear the frown in Lily's reply.

"'Sort of'? What the hell does that mean? There's no such thing as getting half-laid, Ia. Either Yuzuki-san nailed you or she didn't."

"'Sort of' means she left about fifteen minutes after we got to my place. Right after we…um…"

There was a moment of stunned silence, then, "Wait, she what? Why?"

"It's complicated." I fought hard against the lump rising in my throat. Even though I knew Lily would never condemn me for it, I would not cry. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. "Things were going so well – oh, God, you have no idea – but then I said something I shouldn't have, and she…she got up and walked out."

Despite my best effort to hold them in, the tears returned. I didn't have a prayer of stopping them, or of stifling the hitches in my breath that accompanied them, which Lily, of course, picked up on right away.

"Whoa, that had to suck. Hey, are you okay?"

"No, I'm  _not_ okay, dummy," I said between stifled sobs. "If I was, would I be calling you? Oh, God, Lily…"

"Stay right there. I'm coming over."

"No, you don't have to…" The protest was for show, and we both knew it. I'd reached out to Lily because I needed her to be there for me; she wasn't about to refuse me, even if it meant parting from Gumi earlier than she'd planned.

"We're at that hotel near the club, so I'm only a few blocks away. Give me a couple minutes to get myself together and make sure Gumi-chan knows what's up, and I'll be right there."

* * *

True to her word, Lily was knocking on my apartment door within minutes. The moment I saw her, I lost what was left of my self-control, and the poor woman had to spend more than half an hour comforting me as I clung to her, blubbering my way through the details of how – at least in my mind – I'd ruined everything with Yukari.

I'm sure that Lily found my display alarming – after all, I was Ice Queen Aria, the one who usually comforted  _her_ – but to her credit, she didn't give any sign of being put off. In fact, for a long time, she didn't say anything at all; she simply held me and let me cry until I ran out of tears.

"Got any tea?" was all she asked when I'd finally managed to get myself together. When I nodded toward the kitchenette, she added, "Go wash your face while I pour us some."

When I returned to the living room, Lily was sitting at one end of the sofa, mug in hand. As I sat down next to her, she picked up an identical mug from the nearby end table and handed it to me. The steam rising from the surface of the tea, along with the warmth radiating through the porcelain, felt comforting in the chilled air of my under-heated dump of an apartment.

When I turned to thank Lily, it finally registered in my brain that she was still wearing that same revealing dress she'd worn to Club Naiad. From her smudgy make-up to the stray hairs protruding from her disheveled braid-halo, she bore the unmistakable signs of having left the love hotel in a hurry. With a pang of guilt, I realized it was because she'd dropped everything, including Gumi, to be with me.

"I really am the worst," I said by way of apology. "Some friend I am, troubling you like this. Do you want to take a shower? You can borrow my clothes to wear home. Better than wearing that dress on the Metro at this time of day. And how about breakfast?"

But Lily merely waved a dismissive hand.

"Nah, we'll worry about all that later. Right now, I care more about you. This is so completely not like you. The Ia I know would've been pissed off if someone had walked out on her like that. She wouldn't have been so…sad."

"There's no way I could be angry at her," I replied without hesitation. "I love her."

Lily's eyes widened, and she stared at me for a long moment before asking, "Do you? I mean, really? That's a pretty damned serious thing to say about a girl you've known for 24 hours."

"Geez, it's not like I don't know Yukari-san at all. I've been a fan of hers for years, and we've met before, remember? She's not exactly a random hook-up." My shoulders sagged as Yukari's face drifted through my consciousness yet again. "I've only said  _aishiteru wa_  to one other girl in my entire life, and I was deadly serious about her. I wouldn't say those words to Yukari-san if I didn't mean them."

"Well, if that's the way you feel, then it's my duty as your friend to support you, right?" Lily smiled – a trifle too brightly, it seemed, although I didn't think much of it at the time – and slid her free arm around my waist, pulling me into a half-embrace. I leaned against her, sipping tea from my mug, and soaking up the comfort of best-friend skinship. "You and I never mess with each other's love lives, Ia. That's the rule, right?" I nodded, uncertain where she was going with this. "I've seen you get pretty low over women before, and I've been good about giving you space, but this time, I can't stand to watch you suffer. I  _have_ to get involved – there's no other way. Otherwise, you'll whine about this forever, and make my life miserable."

I couldn't help but smile at the attempted joke.

"Thanks, Lily."

"For what? I'm your bestie. I'm  _supposed_ to have your back. So don't get all fucking sentimental on me." With my head on her shoulder, I couldn't see that infuriating grin of hers, but I sensed it in her voice. "But I can't help you if I don't know what the hell's going on, so now that you're not a yammering bag of hormones anymore, you'd better take another stab at telling me what happened between you two. I didn't understand a word you said on the first pass. This time, go slowly, and breathe."

As I repeated the story of how Yukari had cut our encounter short, Lily listened carefully, but didn't interrupt. When I'd finished, she was silent for a moment, thinking.

"Yuzuki-san was right about one thing," she finally said. "She's definitely confused. But one thing's for sure: she's totally into you. Think about it. If she wasn't, would she have said things like 'I want to respond to your feelings' or 'I want to hold you'?"

"Makes sense, I guess. But why would she run? That's what I don't get."

Lily shrugged.

"Who knows? Scared, maybe? If I was in her place, the last thing I'd want is to fall for someone I already know I'll only have three days with. Two girls with broken hearts – that's the ultimate outcome. It's a shot in the dark, but I think when you confessed, Yuzuki-san wanted to accept, but she couldn't get past the fact that come Sunday, you'd both be hurt. She doesn't want that."

"I don't care about Sunday," I countered, with complete conviction and – if I'd only known it at the time – more than a little naiveté. "I'll deal with it when it comes. I'd rather be happy with her for a couple days than never be with her in the first place."

"Apparently, she's a lot less confident than you are. Didn't you say something about her wanting to be sure that being with you was worth the pain of losing you?"

"Yeah."

The arm around my waist tightened – a gesture of encouragement.

"Then you need to make Yuzuki-san realize that it is worth it."

"Easy for you to say, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"That's a problem," Lily acknowledged.

"If I could just talk to her…" My voice trailed off into silence. For several seconds – perhaps a minute – Lily slurped what was left of her tea, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, suddenly, her face lit up, and her now-empty mug hit the end-table with a loud thud.

"I am just about to be brilliant," she declared, turning to me with a triumphant grin. "You said you tried to hug her, but she stopped you, right? Said it would only 'make things worse'? Well, I've got to wonder: what would've happened if you  _had_ hugged her? I bet she wouldn't have resisted you."

"So?"

"So all you have to do is talk to her face to face, right? You lay a big wet one on her and she melts. The two of you go back to her hotel suite and fuck all night. Problem solved." With a wink, she tapped a forefinger to one of her temples. "Who says blondes are dumb? You're welcome, by the way."

I slapped a palm to my forehead in frustration.

"Oh, fine. I suppose I should walk up to her at dress rehearsal this afternoon and slip her my tongue in front of everybody. Brilliant… _not_."

"I didn't mean in front of everyone, doofus. I meant in private."

"Were you not listening to me? She doesn't even want to be in the same room as me! Geez. Use your head for something besides a decoration."

Lily stuck out her tongue at me before retorting, "O ye of little faith. We don't need her to agree to see you. We just need to get her someplace where she can't run away."

"And how are we going to manage that?"

Lily retrieved her phone from the end table and waved it at me.

"I have connections. Well, really just one, but she's the only one who can make it happen."

I didn't need to rack my brain to figure out whom she was talking about.

"Masami-san?"

"Yep. If she can't figure something out, nobody can. Let me call her and see if she's got any ideas."

* * *

"Are you sure this'll work?"

At first, it seemed as though Gumi hadn't heard my question, because there was no reply other than the echo of our footsteps off of the walls of the empty corridor. I had just about made up my mind to ask a second time when she finally answered me.

"Not really, no. We won't know until we get you through the door. The rest is between you and Yukarin. And honestly, I really can't predict how she'll react."

From Gumi's flat, clipped delivery, I could tell she was frustrated. She had every right to be, given how much time she'd wasted that morning trying to convince Yukari to see me. The pianist had fought Gumi at every turn; she was adamant about my not visiting her hotel room, and she'd also flatly rejected meeting me for lunch. Out of desperation, Gumi had come up with Plan C: adding a last-minute entry to Yukari's media schedule, with me playing the part of "Satou-san," a reporter for an obscure music magazine. To this day, I'm not sure how Gumi was able to do it, but she'd managed to pull it off without arousing her boss' suspicions. Now that dress rehearsal was over, we were headed to Yukari's dressing room for the supposed interview.

Lily's faith in Gumi's ability to solve tough problems was well-founded, I had to admit. But while I was grateful for Gumi's help, I was also painfully aware that I'd caused her a great deal of trouble.

"I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, Masami-san."

When I said this, Gumi suddenly came to a dead stop. Caught by surprise, I took another step or two before I realized she wasn't beside me, then doubled back to face her. Her emerald eyes bored into mine, glittering in a manner that, although not exactly hostile, wasn't particularly friendly, either.

"You didn't 'drag' me into anything," she said in an exasperated tone of voice that made me feel as though I was being taken to task by an irate older sister. "This is going to sound cold-blooded, but I'm not doing this for your sake, or even because Lily-chan asked me to. This is all about Yukarin. I'm well-paid to keep her focused and productive, and I take that responsibility quite seriously. That's the only reason I got involved in this drama at all." She paused to let out an irritated sigh. "Right now, she's really making me work for my salary. You heard her performance during dress rehearsal, right? What did you think of it?"

I shifted uncomfortably under the sudden interrogation. To put it bluntly, Yukari hadn't sounded like herself. Oh, she was flawless from a technical standpoint, but the passion she usually poured into the Rach 3 was noticeably absent. It had sounded as if she was playing on auto-pilot. But I wasn't about to say anything negative about Yukari, especially to Gumi, so I decided to evade the question.

"Um, well…I was kind of focused on my own playing."

Gumi let out a mirthless giggle.

"Oh, come on. Who do you think plays the other piano part when Yukarin preps these concerti? I'm every bit as familiar with the Rach 3 score as she is. The second trumpet hardly plays at all during the first two movements. You expect me to buy that you were reading manga on your cell or something? Besides, I was there, and I saw you hanging on every note. Now answer the question. I'm going somewhere with this."

I hung my head, acknowledging defeat.

"Okay, fine. She was awful, at least by her standards."

"Exactly," Gumi said, jabbing a finger at me for emphasis. "And that's a real problem, because she's being paid big money to provide the best possible product to the audience. As of right now, she's in no state of mind to deliver the goods. This is  _not_ a good thing."

"I've really messed things up, haven't I?"

I must have looked absolutely pathetic when I said this, because a good deal of Gumi's ire seemed to vaporize.

"Sorry for being so bitchy about this. Sure, I find this whole sordid mess annoying, but please don't think I'm blaming you for it. We both know that you're the reason she's acting weird, but it's not like it's your fault or anything. You've been following your feelings, like any girl would. No, Yukarin brought all this on herself. I don't think she expected things to go as far as they did, and when she realized she was in this deep, it scared her." With a weary smile, she took a step toward me, and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, I'm rooting for you. I don't want to see Yukarin get hurt, but if it's going to happen, I want it to be because the two of you were together and had to say goodbye, not because she pushed you away. Does that make sense?"

"That's what I tried to tell her, and you see where it got me," I said.

"Ah, yes, but sometimes words aren't enough. You have to force the issue. The good news is that I agree with Lily-chan: all you need to do is get Yukarin alone, and she'll fold like a cheap suit. I can sense that you have that kind of effect on her." With a final pat to my upper arm, she pulled out her ever-present tablet, wincing when she looked at the screen. "We need to get moving. Her Majesty is already grumpy enough. The longer she waits, the worse it'll get."

* * *

As we approached Yukari's dressing room, I had a strong sense of déjà vu, having walked the same corridor to stand in front of the same door twice in the space of as many days. Even so, circumstances were entirely different the second time around.

On Thursday morning, you wouldn't have been able to convince me that by Friday afternoon, I'd have had sex with, confessed to, and been rejected by Yuzuki Yukari. I'd have laughed in your face. But I certainly wasn't laughing now. In fact, I was as nervous as I'd ever been, and that's saying a lot from a musician who's faced her share of tough audiences.

"Let me talk at the beginning, and just play along," Gumi whispered. "After I leave, it's up to you. Remember, don't let her run, and don't back down. Good luck."

With that, she knocked twice on the door, then – as she had the previous day – pushed through it without waiting for an answer.

Yukari sat at the make-up mirror, her bare feet casually propped up on the table, and her attention firmly on the cell phone in her hand. I took a moment to drink in the sight of her, from the black, spaghetti-strap top that clung to her obviously braless chest, to the ruffled, turquoise-colored skirt that rode up on her toned thighs. I'd thought the clothes looked good on her during my brief glimpses of her from across the stage, but up close, she was mesmerizing.

After clearing her throat to get Yukari's attention, Gumi announced, "Your 'interview' is here."

With an absent nod, Yukari switched off her smart phone display and, after a long, languorous stretch, pulled her feet off of the table and stood up.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuzuki Yukari. Please excuse my rudeness. I've been really tired lately, and-…"

The words died in her throat as it registered in her mind exactly who was standing in front of her. The violet eyebrows shot upward, and the lips I found so intoxicating formed a perfect O of surprise. For several seconds, we stood staring at each other, until the oppressive silence finally got to me.

"Hello,Yukari-san. I've missed you."

As if my voice had jarred her out of a daydream, Yukari blinked once, then twice. Then, in a sudden burst of movement, she whirled to face Gumi.

"Masami, why is  _she_ here?" Yukari pointed a shaking finger in my direction. "I told you already that I didn't want to see her. And you tricked me, too! Why are you doing this?"

"Akasaka-san is here because I'm forcing you to chase your demons instead of running from them," Gumi replied, facing down her trembling employer with icy resolve. "The two of you have a few things to sort out, and you're not leaving this room until you do."

"You can't do this," Yukari spluttered. "How many times have I told you to stay out of my personal life? Whatever there is between Akasaka-san and me is none of your business!"

"When your personal life starts affecting your work, it becomes my business. Face it, Yukarin, you sucked hard today, and Akasaka-san's the reason. You can't run from this, and I can't make it go away. You're going to have to deal with it."

Yukari's mouth worked soundlessly, as if she was trying to come up with a reply, but in the end she said nothing.

"You can thank me later, preferably with a large bonus in U. S. dollars," Gumi added, smiling sweetly as she prepared to leave. "It's about 16:30 now. That gives you about an hour and a half before Akasaka-san's pre-concert call – more than enough time for the two of you to come to an understanding. Now get on with it. Oh, and Yukarin?"

"What?" was the bemused reply.

"I'm taking an hour of personal time. My cell phone will be off, so you're on your own until 18:00. Make sure you're dressed and ready to leave the hotel by then. Now if you'll excuse me, a certain violist is waiting." With a wink in my direction, she disappeared through the door, locking it behind her.

I turned back to Yukari to find her staring at me, wide-eyed with panic.

"Why, Ia-san? Why are you here? I already told you that we're only going to wind up getting hurt."

I took a deep breath to bolster my courage. This was no time to be indirect, to play coy, not when every minute counted.

"I'm here because this is where I belong. With you." I laid aside my trumpet case and took a small, slow step forward. Eyeing me with alarm, Yukari immediately backed away until she bumped into the make-up table, unable to retreat any further. Like a deer in the headlights, her eyes locked with mine; I could see the war raging in their violet depths.

"No. It won't work. It  _can't_  work. If I get too close to you…I've been through this before, Ia-san. Falling for someone, then having to go back on tour…and then it all ends, and I wind up alone, just like always. Besides, we only have until Sunday, and then I'll have to leave you. What kind of future is that?"

"If we only have until Sunday, then let's be together until then." I took another step toward her. "Live for the moment. Love each other right now." Yet another step. "You and me, together. Even if it's only for two days, it's right. You know it is, Yukari-san."

"Leave now. Don't come any closer."

The command was completely at odds with the maelstrom of emotions swirling on her face. I could see that despite her words, desire was beginning burn away the doubt and uncertainty. With surging confidence, I took that final step, the one that brought me closer than arm's reach. We were so close that I could almost feel the heat radiating off of Yukari's flushed cheeks.

"Tell me that yesterday was all a mistake, then," I said. "Tell me that my kisses didn't melt you. That you never wanted me as badly as I want you right now. If you can make me believe all that, I'll go."

She swallowed hard, and abruptly turned her back to me, folding her arms in a reflexive act of self-protection.

"You know I can't say any of that." Her voice had sunk to a hoarse near-whisper. "There's just no way."

Sensing I'd won, I slipped my arms around her waist. She went rigid, but she didn't fight me, so I molded myself to her back and inhaled deeply, savoring her floral, musky scent.

"Yes, we only have until Sunday, and yes, my heart's going to shatter when you leave, but I don't care," I whispered into her ear. "I still want to be yours. Please, Yukari-san, let me love you."

Ever so gently, I kissed the side of her neck. At the touch of my lips, the tension drained from her body, and she leaned back into my embrace with a sigh.

"You're a dirty fighter, you know that? Your touch…your kiss…they do things to me. Awesome things. My brain stops working, and my body says, 'That's it – that's what you want, Yukari. That's what you  _need_.' God, you make me crazy."

"Trust me, it works both ways," I murmured.

After a short, comfortable silence, I felt her gently caress my hands.

"Let me go for a bit. I need to look at you."

Reluctantly, I released her, and she turned to face me. To my surprise, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"I'm really sorry about last night. It's just that those words you said dredge up a lot of complicated feelings, and I just sort of…reacted. As soon as I left, I knew I'd made a mistake, but even though it hurt so badly, I talked myself into believing that I was doing the right thing. But now that you're here with me…I can't lie to myself anymore, Ia-san." She dabbed at her eyes, which had begun to leak from the corners. "My head still says that being with you makes no sense. But deep inside…" She patted a hand over her left breast. "…my heart's telling me something different. It wants me to go for it. To say 'yes.' To let you love me the way you want to. To put up with the pain, because you're worth it. And you know what? I think I need to listen to my heart for a change, and worry about Sunday when it comes. If you'll still have me, that is."

Rather than answer, I simply reached for her, and this time she melted into my embrace without any trace of resistance. She felt right in my arms, as if her body had been specially designed to fit against mine. We clung to each other for a long moment, before she pulled back to look me in the eyes again.

"What you said to me last night…I'm not at the point where I can use those same words. Who knows? I may never be." She wiped the last traces of dampness from her cheeks, and smiled a radiant smile that burned right through the heavy atmosphere and straight into my heart. "But I'm not opposed to you trying to change my mind."

"Challenge accepted," I said as her lips eagerly sought mine.

That kiss, our first as lovers, was different from any other I'd shared with Yukari. Her answer to my confession opened a door somewhere deep inside me, releasing an extra measure of passion I never knew existed. It blew through me like a cyclone, cleansing my mind of every thought that didn't have to do with the woman in my arms, and twisting my insides into a throbbing Gordian knot of arousal.

How it happened I can't remember, but I wound up on my back on the shabby dressing-room sofa with Yukari on top of me, our hands grinding against each other's breasts as we devoured each other's lips. Yukari's fingers were far from gentle; they dug into my sensitive flesh, sending explosions of pleasure-pain rocketing straight to my core. Although my mind was nearly blank, I returned the favor as best I could, palming Yukari's small, firm mounds through her top, mercilessly tweaking their swollen peaks until she began to groan into my mouth.

Too soon, she pulled out of the kiss, and we gazed into each other's eyes, panting for breath as our hands continued their onslaught.

"I can't believe I went a whole night without your kisses," she sighed. "I wasted half a day being stupid – hours I could have spent worshipping your beautiful body. Oh, God, I can't wait another second. I want to touch you, and I want your mouth on me."

After pushing herself up into a kneeling position, she began fumbling with my shirt buttons. My brain was too foggy with lust to stop her, even if I wanted to. Nor did I even have the presence of mind to help her. I simply lay there, watching her work, and counting the seconds until those long, strong fingers would find their way inside me.

She'd barely gotten my blouse open to my aching breasts when a loud knock froze us both in place.

"Yukarin?" Gumi's voice. "Hello? Sorry for interrupting, but it's urgent."

I won't repeat the phrase that Yukari muttered right then. Suffice it to say that even sailor-mouthed Lily would have been impressed by the name she called Gumi under her breath. Still, I could understand her reaction, because I was every bit as frustrated as she was. To Yukari's credit, though, she recovered quickly enough to bark a substantially less profane response toward the locked door.

"Keep your shirt on! Geez!"

In a flash, we were off the sofa and in front of the mirror. While Yukari tried desperately to repair the smears in her lipstick and eyeliner, I frantically worked on my shirt buttons, cursing their sudden lack of cooperation with my shaking fingers.

Apparently, we weren't moving fast enough for Gumi, because after too many seconds had passed, there was a second knock, followed by the sound of the door unlocking.

"Oi, Yukarin! I'm coming in."

Yukari glowered at Gumi as she entered the dressing room.

"Your timing totally sucks ass, you know that? A-S-S  _ass_. You'd better have a damned good reason for barging in like this."

Ignoring Yukari's peevish outburst, Gumi caught my eye and raised a questioning eyebrow. When I nodded and smiled, her shoulders sagged with relief. Then, it was back to business.

"Look, I already said I was sorry, okay? But we've got a bit of a situation. I just got a phone call from the NSO Executive Director. It seems that he got wind of your less-than-stellar display at dress rehearsal, and he's a bit, um, concerned, shall we say, about the orchestra's investment in your appearance fee. They're going to take a bath if they have to cancel, and he'd like to avoid that, if possible."

"Hey, I wasn't  _that_  bad," Yukari protested. "And why would they cancel? What the hell are people telling him? That I'm dying or something?"

"God only knows. You know how rumors get. Anyway, he's on his way down here right now. The Maestro and I tried to talk him out of it, but it didn't work. He wants to see for himself that you're okay."

Yukari sighed deeply.

"All right, I'll just tell him it's a 'female problem,' and that I'll be okay if I rest for a bit. It's not a  _complete_ lie, because a female  _was_ the source of my problems…" She nodded toward me. "…but that's all behind us now."

"It's worth a shot," Gumi decided. "We need to get Akasaka-san out of here, though. It'll only raise questions if he finds her with us, especially with her shirt buttoned wrong."

I followed Gumi's gaze down to my chest and saw that she was right – I'd missed a buttonhole. With a mumbled curse, I fixed it. Meanwhile, Gumi retrieved my trumpet case and handed to me.

"Here. Lily-chan says if you take the back way, just keep turning right and you'll wind up at the employee lounge. She's waiting there for you. Now get going."

"Wait!" Startled, Gumi and I turned to face Yukari, whose face had scrunched into that adorable pout, the one that made me want to smother her with kisses. "Gumi-chan, you're such a cold-hearted jerk. Don't I at least get to say goodbye to her?"

"He's going to be here any minute, Yukarin," Gumi said, but she only stood her ground for a moment before relenting. I had a suspicion that I wasn't the only one who couldn't resist Yukari's pout. "Fine, but you'll have to do it with me in the room, just in case we get walked in on. I'll turn my back. Make it quick."

As soon as Gumi looked away, Yukari surprised me by practically throwing herself at me. After wrapping her arms around my neck, she planted a firm kiss on my mouth. Her voice sank to a seductive whisper.

"We just can't seem to get a break, can we? But I promise to make it up to you tonight. Better plan on a sleep-over in my hotel room. Not that we'll be sleeping much…"

As her words trailed off into a mischievous smirk, I shivered at the wonderful implications of that statement.

"Break a leg tonight." Given that my mind was filled with images of Yukari and me, naked and horizontal, I couldn't come up with anything more profound to say.

Her face lit up in another one of those smiles that turned me boneless.

"You, too. I'll be in the Director's Box after intermission, so make me proud, okay? And listen carefully during the Rach 3 – it's going to be a special performance. Now that I have my special person in the audience, I've got a hunch that I'm going to play it even more awesomely than usual."

The sound of Gumi clearing her throat ended our moment, but not before Yukari gently stroked my cheek, and planted one final kiss on the tip of my nose.

"You'd better go. Don't worry – I'll be waiting for you after the concert."

I didn't want to leave her arms, but Gumi was already holding the door open for me, so I had no choice.

"I'm off," I said, and fled the dressing room without looking back.

My exit came not a moment too soon, because the booming voice of the Executive Director echoed through the corridor to my left. I bolted in the opposite direction, following Lily's instructions to keep bearing right.

As I worked my way through the bowels of the Pavilion, it began to sink in that Yukari and I were formally together. The joy that welled up inside me made me want to cry out, but I didn't want to attract attention, so I settled for a fist-pump instead.

In my moment of triumph, I conveniently ignored the fact that in a little more than 48 hours, it would all end, like I was waking from a dream. All I cared about was that I was Yukari's, and she was mine. As far as I was concerned, Sunday would have to take care of itself.


	5. Toccata

Sometime the next morning, soft piano music pulled me out of a quickly-forgotten dream. The piece sounded vaguely familiar – was it a Brahms  _Intermezzo_? I wasn't quite awake enough to place it, so I simply lay there for the time being, allowing the melody to blow the fog from my brain like a gentle spring breeze.

At first, it seemed odd to hear someone play a real piano in a hotel suite, but then I recalled seeing a black Yamaha upright in the sitting room when I'd first walked in the previous evening. It was a rather unusual furnishing, even for a luxury establishment like the Imperial Minato, but its presence had only registered in my mind for a moment, because I'd been focused on something much more urgent: the night of lovemaking that lay ahead of Yukari and me.

The glorious mental images – indeed, the simple act of  _remembering_ – sent a ripple of excitement through the pit of my stomach. Yukari and I had barely made it through the front door of her suite before we were in each other's arms, intent on picking up right where we'd left off in her dressing room that afternoon. Neither of us had had the patience for foreplay; I'd wanted her inside me from the start, and she was all too happy to oblige, staking her claim with forceful thrusts that had me practically weeping for joy. After her fingers had plundered that first gale-force climax from my twisting, convulsing body, I assaulted her most sensitive place with my mouth until her ragged moans of release filled the room.

That explosive first encounter was merely a prelude to one of the most sensual nights of my life. To lie next to Yukari, to feel her hands and lips and skin on mine, was sheer bliss. Yet the physical pleasure, although exquisite, was nothing compared to the emotional fulfillment our lovemaking brought me. Yukari had me totally under her spell. Every time I cried out her name, and every time I heard her speak my own, I fell even more desperately in love with her. Sometime during the night, she evolved in my mind from lover to personal goddess, at whose altar I worshipped with every touch, every kiss.

Just 24 short hours ago, I'd promised myself that when it came to Yukari's and my affair, I'd be content with whatever she was willing to give, and that I would accept that the fantasy world we shared was only temporary. But as I lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the music, I knew that was no longer possible.

How had my feelings for Yukari run to such dangerous depths? At this rate, my bubble was going to burst in spectacular fashion come Sunday.

My frustrated growl mingled with the cascade of notes tumbling in from the sitting room. This line of thinking was getting me nowhere. I needed to stop obsessing over Yukari's imminent departure, and keep my expectations under control.

Forcing my mind back to the present, I reached out to where Yukari should have been lying, only to find empty space. After a few seconds of confusion, I felt silly for expecting her to be there – after all, who else would be playing the piano? Yet at the same time, I was disappointed that she wasn't lying next to me. I'd really wanted to wake up next to her.

Responding to a sudden pang of loneliness, I pushed aside the bedcovers and sat up, trying to get my bearings in the still-alien environment of Yukari's hotel bedroom. All around me were the unmistakable signs of an hours-long sexual marathon. Clothes lay everywhere, piled on the floor, and draped over the nondescript hotel furniture – the unavoidable consequence of lovers practically ripping the garments off of each other in the heat of the moment. The mingled scents of two highly aroused women permeated the air, radiating from the bed, which we'd not only drenched, but practically torn apart as our passion spiraled out of control.

When I mustered enough energy to stand, the mirror on the far wall caught my attention. The bedraggled woman staring back at me looked like she'd been through something like a war. Eyes crusty and glazed. Make-up smeared beyond repair. Hair sticking out at strange angles, like a pale-gray haystack. Twin half-braids missing, having unraveled at some point. She looked the way I felt: badly in need of a shower, a mug of strong tea, and maybe a little ice for the angry-looking kiss mark on the front of her left shoulder.

Rubbing the matching bruise on my own skin, I turned away from the embarrassing reflection and began a brief but fruitless search for my lingerie. Then I remembered that my panties had been the first to go, torn from my hips mere seconds after my arrival, which meant that their shredded remains had to be somewhere in the sitting room. It was anyone's guess where my bra had wound up. I hoped I'd find it eventually, and that I'd still be able to wear it. Yukari, I'd noticed, had a particular impatience with underwear when it interfered with her single-minded mission to please me.

In a rare act of boldness, I decided to seek out Yukari exactly as I was. As a rule, I'd been shy about appearing naked in front of anyone, even my ex-girlfriends, except for in bed or in the bath. But Yukari was different; with her, I was totally at ease. Besides, as my lover, she'd already seen everything I had to offer, and up close and personal at that, so it made no sense to hide anything from her. On the contrary, I  _wanted_ her to look. I  _needed_ to see lust in those gorgeous eyes as she considered the possibilities of what to do with the body I'd so completely given over to her.

I followed the piano's siren song to the sitting room, where I found Yukari seated at the keyboard, her back to the bedroom door. She wasn't quite as naked as me; the black t-back thong I'd removed with such haste the night before was back in place, framing her delightfully firm rear end in a way that made my mouth water. Her shoulders dipped and swayed to match the motion of her arms as her fingers glided over the keys, now caressing, now probing, in much the same way they'd run over my skin when we'd made love earlier.

Transfixed, I admired Yukari from the doorway, until in due course the piece's final chord faded away. After a brief silence, she looked over her shoulder at me, showing no hint of surprise that I'd been watching her.

"Good morning, Iacchi." Her welcoming smile bathed me in warmth from across the room. At the same time, I didn't miss the gleam in her eyes as they strayed downward to my bare breasts. "I knew you were there. Call it a sixth sense."

Sometime during the night, during one of the rare lulls in our enjoyment of each other, Yukari had decided that using "san" was too formal for women who'd so thoroughly explored each other's bodies. Her choice of pet name for me turned out to be my childhood nickname, which I'd long despised. Since elementary school, no one – and I mean  _no one_  – had dared to call me "Iacchi" more than once, except for Lily, who did it expressly to annoy me, and who always paid the price for doing so. But Yukari became an instant and permanent exception to that rule. On her lips, the formerly hated name transformed from a cutesy diminutive to a powerful sutra, propelling me that much closer to nirvana each time she spoke it.

"Good morning, Yukari." Unable to stay away, I moved across the room to her side, shivering a little at the thrill of calling her by name without an honorific. "What a way to wake up. I almost thought I was still dreaming, because everything sounded so perfect. So beautiful. Just like you."

Twin smudges of pink washed over Yukari's cheekbones.

"Flatterer."

"It's true. You're my special person, remember? Everything about you is beautiful to me." I leaned toward her, intending only to brush my lips against her cheek, but Yukari surprised me by winding her arms around my neck and kissing me firmly on the mouth. There were still traces of my own essence on her tongue; far from being put off by the taste, the memory of how it got there drove me to deepen the kiss still further. Yukari matched my intensity willingly, and when we finally pulled apart, her cheeks were a good deal redder.

"Wow. I guess you missed me, huh?" Her smile had a hint of hunger to it, but instead of kissing me on the lips again, she gave me a peck on the tip of my nose – her own special way of showing me affection, I'd come to realize – before letting me go. "Sorry to leave you alone in bed like that. You looked so peaceful that I didn't want to disturb you. So I just, you know, lay there for a while, watching you sleep. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you." She looked away, blushing even more deeply. "After a while, I came out here, but I wound up missing you. I was about to go wake you up the usual way when I remembered I had this…" – she gestured toward the piano – "…and figured I might as well use it. It seemed like a really romantic idea."

"It totally was," I said, matching her beatific smile with one of my own. "But I don't get why there's a piano here in the first place. What is it, some kind of V.I.P. perk?"

"No, it's the player piano that usually sits in the lobby. Gumi-chan convinced the manager to let me borrow it for the weekend. Looks like it turned out to be handy for something besides practicing. So, how do you like the concert so far?"

"Fabulous, as always. Brahms, right?"

"Yep.  _Intermezzo,_ Opus 118, Number 2, in A Major. Old Johannes wrote it for Clara Schumann. He had a thing for her, you know."

"I remember hearing something like that in music history class," I said, happy that Yukari had chosen to awaken me with what was essentially a love song. "If you were going for romantic – success. And you wonder why I'm so crazy about you."

Yukari's blush, which had begun to fade, returned with a vengeance.

"Would you, um, like me to keep going?"

"Do you even need to ask? I'd listen to you all day. Of course, we don't  _have_ all day…"

Yukari's shoulders sagged a bit.

"You're right about that," she conceded, her lip curling in the faint beginnings of that adorable pout. "That sucks, but I guess it can't be helped. Still, we have time for at least one more number. I've got the perfect one in mind, too."

Yukari's second musical offering turned out to be Debussy's  _Clair de Lune,_ which she had included on her most recent album. Her choice was anything but random, I knew, because over lunch at Arai two days earlier, I'd let slip that it was my favorite of all the solo works she'd recorded. It seemed like only yesterday that I listened to the track for the first time, reliving that sublime moment I'd shared with Yukari in Nagoya, and wishing I could meet her again someday. Now, here was Yukari, my lover, playing  _Clair de Lune_  for my ears only.

Karma had not only heard my wish, she had paid me back handsomely for all the times she'd done me over.

I positioned myself next to the piano so I could watch Yukari from the front. From the very first time I'd seen her perform, I'd been enchanted by how the expressions chased each other across her face, just as they were doing right then. Emotion followed emotion; joy, introspection, playfulness, or whatever the music evoked, it was all there in plain sight, with nothing held back.

Sometimes, Yukari's eyelids would flutter shut; other times, she would stare off into space or down at the keyboard. But mostly she would gaze at me, her beautiful eyes filled with yearning.

The tension between us hung heavy over the room as Yukari played on, making love to me with sound. I found myself responding to her auditory caresses as if they were actual physical touches. By the time the final notes of  _Clair de Lune_  died away, the need that had been simmering within me was close to boiling over. I badly wanted to taste the salt of Yukari's skin. To run my shaking fingers through her silky twin-tails. To press my breasts and belly and hips tightly against the body that fit mine so perfectly.

"Did you like it?" Her question, loaded with expectation, lingered in space between us, space I wanted nothing more than to close. Unable to reply, I simply reached out a hand.

My gesture turned out to be all the invitation Yukari needed. In a flash, she leaped off the piano bench, pulling me into that second embrace I'd so longed for, her lips feasting on mine so ravenously that my insides grew white-hot.

"My God, when we kiss…" Yukari's words, gasped out as I nibbled at her lower lip, trailed off into a silence thick with mutual want.

"Come back to bed. Please." My voice, hoarse with arousal, was barely audible.

She pulled back, looking into my eyes with such desire that I nearly melted on the spot.

"Oh, God, I want to. You have  _no_ idea. But housekeeping probably needs to change the sheets before we can use the bed again." She gently smoothed away the stray hairs that had fallen across my face. "Besides, it's nearly noon, and I have to be at the Pavilion at 15:00 for media interviews. And we haven't even eaten yet. So how about we take a long, hot shower, and order room service?"

My visions of morning passion evaporated in an instant.

"You go first," I said, barely able to contain my disappointment at what seemed to be a rebuff. Yukari had me ready to explode, to the point that I was seriously considering seeking solo relief while she was in the shower. My frustration must have shown plainly on my face, because no sooner had I begun to feel sorry for myself than the woman in my arms began to giggle.

"Silly Iacchi." Another kiss to my nose, followed by a suggestive grin. "I didn't mean by ourselves. We're in the Empress Suite, remember? The shower's big enough for a Mahler brass section. Plenty of room to move around, if you get my drift."

When her meaning finally sank into my lust-fogged brain, I said, "I wonder what your fans would think if they knew how, um, uninhibited you can be behind closed doors."

"I'm never like this," she retorted. "Only with you. Besides, it's your fault for being so damned hot. I just can't seem to get enough of that perfect body of yours. Now are we going to just stand here, or are we going to wash each other's backs…and everywhere else, too?"

The piano was perhaps ten paces away from the shower, but it took Yukari and me quite a while to cover that meager distance. The fact that we were trying to kiss and walk at the same time, and having limited success at it, contributed to the delay, no doubt. But finally, after a lot of stumbling and giggling, we made it to the bathroom.

After turning on the water, Yukari took my hands in hers, and placed them on the waistband of her thong. In obedience to her unspoken instructions, I eased it over her hips, taking the opportunity to grope her rear end in the process, and earning a very pleasant retaliatory squeeze to one of my breasts. When the thin tangle of cotton and spandex dropped to Yukari's ankles, she kicked it aside, and pulled me into the stall with her.

I hadn't bathed with a lover in so long that I'd almost forgotten just how erotic the experience can be. Sure, we washed each other's hair and skin, but that simply served as an excuse to extend the foreplay that had begun with Yukari's morning serenade. From the nape of Yukari's neck to the small of her back to her inner thighs, I made sure to linger over every sensitive spot I'd discovered the night before. She, in turn, lavished attention on my sides, cleavage, and especially my abs, leaving me shivering with each touch.

It didn't take us long to abandon the pretense of washing each other. Lips pressed against pulse points. Tongues flicked earlobes. Teeth grazed collarbones. Fingers clutched breasts, pinched nipples. My mind threatened to go blank.

"Iacchi…"

The single murmured word, along with one heated, pleading look, was enough for me to understand what Yukari wanted. In instant obedience to my goddess' command, I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to me, covering her lips with mine; she returned the kiss ferociously, her tongue imposing its passionate will on my own. Slowly, gently, I guided her backward until her shoulders rested against the shower wall. My free hand found its way to her breasts, briefly cupping each one, before gliding over her twitching stomach muscles and through the violet tangle that crested her mound. When it finally found its way into the warm deluge between her thighs, her moan of satisfaction vibrated through my mouth.

As my fingers glided back and forth through Yukari's slippery-soft womanhood, exploring its hidden mysteries, she clung to my neck, pushing her hips insistently into my hand. At first, our bodies moved together in a slow-dance of pleasure, but as the storm gathered within her, her body started to jerk and twitch, breaking the rhythm. Soon, she was bucking and squirming against me with total abandon, groaning and digging her fingernails into my back. Her breath was hot against my ear as she urged me on.

"That's it – right there! Don't stop!"

She was getting close, so I began moving my hand faster and faster, focusing on the one spot where she most needed my touch.

"Oh, shit, I'm gonna-…" Her breath caught for a moment, and then released in a strangled cry as she tumbled over the precipice, shuddering so violently that I almost lost my balance trying to keep hold of her. A burst of liquid heat drenched my fingertips, evidence of the cataclysm raging through her body.

When she finally went limp, I pulled my hand away and held her close, waiting for the tiny aftershocks running through her trembling muscles to subside. She felt suddenly fragile in my arms, like a finely-crafted doll. My precious treasure, my beloved – I wanted to hold her like this forever, and never let her go.

After a half a minute or so, Yukari's breathing returned to normal, and her lips found their way to mine.

"So good." She pulled back to gaze into my eyes, stroking my cheek with her fingertips. "Oh, God, that was the best yet. You're amazing, Iacchi." She paused to let out a long, satisfied sigh. "Let's stay like this for a little bit longer, okay?"

I nodded, but without much enthusiasm. The simple act of holding Yukari while she arched and thrashed through the earth-shattering fury of her orgasm had left me teetering on the brink of ruin. I desperately needed it to be my turn.

"How can you be shaking," Yukari wondered, "when I'm the one who almost blacked out just now?"

"Because I need you to touch me."

After brushing her lips gently against mine, Yukari turned me so that I faced the wall, guiding my hands so that they supported my weight, then gathered my hair into a single, light-gray rope, draping it over one of my shoulders so it wouldn't be in her way. After a moment, her arm snaked around my waist, and her breasts pressed against me, their nipples hard against the skin of my upper back.

"You ready, Iacchi?" She gently nipped at my shoulder, sending shivers down my spine.

"Oh, God, yes,  _so_ ready." I practically sobbed the words out. "Please, I can't wait any longer."

By way of answer, the hand around my waist moved up to palm one of my aching breasts, flicking at the nipple, while the other began to stroke back and forth along the groove of my rear end. I pushed my hips backward, groaning with anticipation.

After what seemed like an eternity, Yukari's fingers slid through my soaking-wet folds from behind, heading straight for the thrumming bundle of nerves waiting for them at the far end. The moment they flicked across it, a blast of brilliant white light tore through my brain, and my insides clenched so forcefully that they almost hurt. I sagged against the wall, my knees perilously close to giving out.

"Oh!" It wasn't a moan or a scream, but a loud, sharp exclamation of surprise. The sudden climax had caught me completely unaware, as if I'd walked around a corner and been hit by a speeding bus.

"Wow, you came already?" Yukari sounded as surprised as me, and a bit smug, as well. "I barely touched you! Huh. Well, I guess that wraps things up, doesn't it?"

"Don't you dare stop!" If I sounded testy, it was because I wasn't even close to being done. As amazing as it was, that first orgasm wasn't the kind that provided any lasting satisfaction. It was little better than an overture to the main act. I needed Yukari to finish me once and for all. To give me to the same sweet, stratospheric release I'd given her.

"Hey, I was only kidding," Yukari replied, her voice soft and soothing. "I can tell you need more, so just relax, okay? Let your Yukari take care of everything."

 _Your Yukari._ That phrase sounded so beautiful that I thought I might cry. I wanted to tell her that I loved her with every fiber of my being, and that no matter what happened on Sunday, I would always think of her as mine. But I was incapable of speaking more than a word or two, and when she slid first one finger, then a second, deep into my pulsating core, those thoughts were quickly blotted out by the explosion of pleasure in my brain.

Yukari seemed to be in no hurry to make me come. She'd move in and out a few times at an agonizingly slow pace, stretching me deliciously with every thrust, and every so often swiping a finger over the pleasure point at the top of my crevice. Then she'd drive her fingers deep into me, twisting and flexing in an effort to explore as much of my insides as she could before pulling them out to resume thrusting. All the while, she remained molded to my back, continuously planting light kisses on my shoulders and murmuring about how hot and tight and wet I was inside, even as her other hand moved from breast to breast, teasing the sensitive mounds mercilessly.

It was the most exquisite form of torture imaginable.

As Yukari continued her relentless assault, a second, much more powerful orgasm began to build deep inside of me. Sensing its approach long before it hit, I knew it would be one of those belly-cramping, toe-curling monsters, the kind that deal their own heavenly brand of destruction. Like a bullet train at full speed, it roared down the tracks toward where I stood frozen in its headlights, unable to do little but brace myself for oblivion.

Yukari must have sensed from the way I'd begun to writhe and groan that I was nearing the point of no return, because she abruptly changed her strategy, and began to pump her fingers into me in a steady cadence, pressing their tips into that special inner spot at precisely the right angle. My journey to completion instantly transformed from a laborious climb up a mountain pass into a rocket-fueled ascent to the heavens. I shoved myself back against Yukari's hand, my insides clutching at her invading digits as if to claim them for myself. The pitch of my moans grew ever higher as I neared my demise.

"Don't stop! I'm so close…"

Yukari responded to my tortured whine by dramatically increasing the tempo of her thrusts. After a few seconds, her other hand left my chest and slid down to my distended, throbbing pearl, strumming across it as if it was a guitar string.

That was all it took to break me.

In an instant, I died and was reborn. I heard voices, spoke in tongues, saw visions. Arched my back and clawed at the wall as the spasms ripped through my gut. Howled Yukari's name into the void until I ran out of breath.

The next thing I knew, I was on my hands and knees on the floor of the shower stall, with warm water beating down on my quivering body. Gradually, I became aware of Yukari kneeling next to me, caressing my back and murmuring something about how amazing that must have been and how the sight of me coming was, without question, one of the most beautiful things she'd ever witnessed.

"I love you." That was all I got out before the tears spilled over. I'd never cried after sex before, but one look at Yukari's face had me so overcome that I couldn't help myself. I was already desperately, helplessly in love with her; the sudden fear that my love might also be hopeless proved to be too much for my hormone-addled brain to handle.

Yukari didn't respond. She merely pulled me into her arms and waited patiently for my flood of emotion to recede, which – thankfully – it soon did.

"No, no, it's okay," she said, laying a finger on my lips when I tried to apologize for my outburst. "Sometimes it's just too good, isn't it? Here, I know how to fix things." Tucking her fingers under my chin, she pulled my face to hers, touching her lips ever so lightly to mine. "There. All better?"

"Yeah." I wasn't lying. Yukari's embrace had done wonders to settle me. For a few moments, at least, I was able to forget that our relationship was on borrowed time.

"Good. You know, that was the best shower ever, but there's still one teeny, tiny problem," she said. When I pulled away, eyeing her with alarm, she quickly added, "There wasn't anything really wrong, okay?" With a wry smile, she held out a hand, allowing the shower spray to pool in her palm. "It's just that, well, I'm not that much into liquid afterglow, are you?"

I had to grant her point.

"I guess not. My skin's getting all wrinkled, for one thing."

With a chuckle, Yukari stood up and shut off the water, then stepped out of the stall.

"Come on," she said, grabbing a towel from the nearby rack and holding it out to me.

For a minute or two, we said nothing, content to focus on drying ourselves off. It wasn't until I'd wrapped my hair in a second towel that Yukari finally broke the silence. "How about we move this party to somewhere more comfortable?"

"What about my hair?"

"Leave it wrapped. I'll help you dry it later. Right now, I really, really want to cuddle with you."

She must have read my mind.

"That's the second-best idea you've had all morning," I said. "Besides the shower, of course."

Since Yukari had already ruled out using the bed, we wound up lying on the sitting-room sofa in a tangle of arms and legs, clad in matching terry-cloth bathrobes that the Minato provided for guests staying in the Empress Suite. At Yukari's insistence, I lay on my back with my head and shoulders propped up by throw pillows, while she draped herself over top of me, her face tucked against my shoulder.

"It's been so long since I've snuggled next to someone like this." Yukari's breath tickled against the side of my neck as she spoke. "You're spoiling me, Iacchi."

"Hey, you're the one spoiling  _me_. You make a very comfortable blanket."

With a giggle, she replied, "And you're a really soft, sexy futon." She squeezed one of my breasts through the bathrobe, but it was more of a gesture of intimacy than a sexual signal. "Hey, I'm about ready to call room service. How about it? Are you hungry?"

"Definitely."

"Good. Hey, how about when the food gets here, we feed each other?" Her tone turned hopeful. "And maybe I can order sushi, and eat it off of your naked stomach."

I couldn't suppress a disbelieving giggle.

"Geez, Yukari! We just had incredible shower sex, and you already want more?"

"Who said anything about sex? It's just food. Still, I have to admit, eating it off of you like that would be  _so_ hot."

"Hot for  _you,_ you mean. Meanwhile, I'm the one who gets raw fish smeared all over her. I'd need another shower. Not to mention that your tongue on my abs would have me begging for sex in like, oh, ten seconds. Probably less."

I felt her smile against the side of my neck.

"Um, hello? That's kind of the point, Iacchi."

"Good God, you're insatiable," I snickered. "Not that it's a bad thing, but you're going to put me in the hospital if this keeps up."

Yukari pushed herself up on her hands, bridging over me so that I could see her face. There was no trace of the grin I'd heard in her voice moments earlier. Instead, the smoldering, deep-purple embers of her eyes poured their heat downward into mine. That gaze of hers – it was my instant undoing, and probably always would be.

"'Insatiable' isn't the right word," she said with surprising sincerity. "I think 'obsessed' works better. Because that's what you've become, Iacchi: my obsession. The more you give me, the more I want." She shook her head. "My God, what are you doing to me?"

"It's all part of my plan," I said, my tone just as serious as hers. "I'm doing everything I can to get you to admit that you're madly in love with me. Is it working?"

Yukari blushed again, much as she had when I'd called her beautiful, but unlike earlier, she didn't look away.

"Possibly. I'll never tell."

As cute as it was to see her play coy like this, I couldn't shake my lingering frustration over Yukari's refusal to answer my confession directly. She wasn't shy about calling me pretty, sexy, fun to be with, or good in bed, but she steadfastly avoided any mention of love. She wouldn't even say that she  _liked_ me. And yet, she made such tender love to me, and treated me like a princess, as if I was the single most important person in her world. How could she do all this if she didn't love me just a little? Why would she refer to herself as "my Yukari"? Was she the world's best actress, or was she simply in denial?

I decided I was overanalyzing things, as usual. There was no point to guessing what was going through Yukari's mind, and in any case, I was hardly in a position to dictate what she thought of me. Better to focus on the positive: at least she still allowed me the privilege of loving her, and of telling her so. That would be enough, I told myself. It  _had_ to be.

"I love you, Yukari. Whatever happens tomorrow, the way I feel isn't going to change, at least not anytime soon."

The fire in Yukari's eyes suddenly went out, quenched by a sudden rain of sadness. With a sigh, she laid down on top of me, nuzzling against my neck as she had before.

"I wish I had your confidence." Her tone matched the momentary desolation I'd seen in her eyes.

"I've been in love before," I said. "But only once, with my very first girlfriend. It was a long time ago, but I still remember how it changed my entire world. The girls who came after, I may have thought I loved them at some point, but when I thought about it after each break-up, I realized I didn't feel the same as I had with her. Not with any of them. Until now, that is." I wrapped my arms around her and began gently caressing her back and shoulders. "When I look into your eyes, when I hold you in my arms, I've never been surer of myself. I don't know how else to put it. When I say I love you, I mean every syllable."

Yukari didn't respond immediately. Instead, she traced her fingers along my jawline and neck; her touch was feather-light, as if she was admiring a porcelain figurine she was afraid to damage. Clearly, she was considering very carefully what to say next. After several long moments, I finally felt her lips press lightly against the base of my neck.

"Thank you, Iacchi." Her voice was tender, but at the same time, I could hear a note of longing in it. "It makes me happy to hear you say that, so happy that you have no idea. And at the same time, it hurts. It hurts a lot. It's like getting that perfect birthday present, the one I always wanted, and then being told that I only get to keep it for a couple days. Ugh. That totally doesn't make any sense, does it?" It did, actually, in ways Yukari probably didn't realize, but I kept silent, sensing that her question wasn't meant to be answered. "And I'm being so stupid about all of this. Dammit, it's not fair. I don't want tomorrow to come. Just for today, can we pretend that it won't?"

 _Tomorrow doesn't have to be the end for us,_ I almost replied. I wanted to beg her not to break up with me when she left Tokyo. We could make a long-distance relationship work, I was convinced. But in the end, I said nothing. Not only did Yukari not want to talk about it, but I had a pretty good idea of her answer, and I didn't want the pain of her likely refusal to ruin what little time we had together.

I decided that now, more than ever, I needed to follow my own advice:  _Live for the moment. Love each other right now._ At least for the time being, my best option was to retreat with Yukari into our own private universe, and leave any discussion of the future for Sunday.

"Okay," I said, before planting a gentle kiss on Yukari's forehead. "But do me a favor, would you?"

"Hmm?"

"Promise you won't try that eating-sushi-off-my-stomach thingy until later tonight, okay?"

From somewhere around my collarbone, Yukari laughed, a hearty outburst of mirth that sparkled in my ears like a splash of water in sunlight.

"Okay, I promise."


	6. Anthem

At a little past 17:30 on Sunday afternoon, the four of us – Lily, Gumi, Yukari, and me – sat huddled together in a crowded café on the fourth floor of Narita Airport's Terminal 1. Four overpriced lattes sat untouched in front of us, victims of the cloud of gloom hanging over our group.

"Geez, you'd think we were at a funeral or something."

Yukari let out a half-hearted giggle to go along with her attempted jest, but it fell flat. None of us were in a laughing mood, and with good reason: in less than half an hour, Yukari and Gumi were due to begin the long check-in process for their international flight. Lily and I would get a brief good-bye at the security checkpoint, and that would be that.

Despite Yukari's best efforts to keep things light, my smile was counterfeit, a Noh mask behind which I hid my misery. I could barely bring myself to make eye contact with Yukari, let alone respond to her attempt at conversation. Instead, I simply squeezed her hand, and glanced across the table at Lily. But if I was hoping for solace, my best friend – usually so relentlessly upbeat – appeared to have none to spare. Her vacant, red-rimmed stare said it all. Gumi was of no help, either; she seemed uncharacteristically lost, a far cry from her usually confident self.

To be honest, I found the despair that surrounded Lily and Gumi surprising. I'd assumed – wrongly, it seemed – that their feelings for each other were a lot more casual than Yukari's and mine. But at that moment, I didn't have it in me to ponder what had gone on between the two women over the previous 48 hours. I was too distracted by my own inner turmoil.

"Somebody say something."

There was a hint of desperation in Yukari's plea, but none of the rest of us had anything to offer. The silence descended again, and remained unbroken until the faint sound of chimes began to echo from Gumi's valise.

"Twenty minutes," Gumi said in a tight voice, silencing her offending cell phone. After a moment, she abruptly stood, adding, "We can't put this off any longer. Come on, Yukarin, while there's still time."

As Gumi spoke, Yukari's forced cheerfulness finally deserted her. Deflating like a popped balloon, she slumped forward, head in hands.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said after a long moment. "Let's do what we talked about. At least we'll have some privacy."

I exchanged puzzled glances with Lily before asking, "Talked about what?"

Lily chimed in, "Privacy? In  _this_ airport? Where? It's a damned beehive."

"You'll both see," Gumi replied, before holding out a hand toward Lily. "Let's go, Blondie."

At the sound of the endearment, spoken in Gumi's unaccented English, Lily grimaced, and let out a weird little half-gasp, half-sob. For a moment, I thought she was about to burst into tears, but thankfully she held it together. If she hadn't, I honestly wasn't sure how I would have reacted.

The four of us, led by Gumi, left the coffee shop and headed for the nearby escalators to the fifth floor. I insisted on pulling Yukari's roll-away for her; I'd have preferred to hold hands like Gumi and Lily were doing, or maybe walked arm-in-arm, but Yukari wasn't in disguise, so I contented myself with what seemed to be the next best choice.

"Oh, right, the observation deck," Lily said when we emerged into the fifth-floor atrium. "But won't that be just as jammed as the rest of this joint?"

"Trust me, there's plenty of room out there," Gumi answered, then turned to Yukari before adding, "I'll take Lily-chan to the north end. You guys can go to the other side. Can I trust you to be back downstairs at the security checkpoint by 18:00?"

Yukari nodded wearily.

"Yeah, yeah."

With that, Gumi led the dazed and dejected Lily away. As I watched them leave, spacing out for a moment, I felt a gentle tug at my sleeve.

"Iacchi? This way."

For the past 24 hours, Yukari and I had done everything possible to pretend this moment wasn't going to come. But as Saturday faded into Sunday, it had become increasingly difficult to keep up the charade. I thought I'd held together pretty well, except for a brief mood swing earlier that morning after Yukari and I had made love for the final time.

Still, I'd been able to keep my composure, for the most part. I'd decided that come hell or high water, I was going to send Yukari off with a smile, and stuff my tears inside until after she'd left.

At least, that was my plan going in.

But this – the good-bye I'd been dreading since Friday – was already proving to be more than I'd bargained for. Yukari wasn't even on the plane yet, and I was already a hairbreadth away from falling to pieces.

I shuffled after Yukari as she led me down the corridor and out onto the open-aired observation deck. Setting aside the constant roar of jet engines, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful late-spring afternoon, but the cool, sunny weather only made me feel all the more gray and dull inside.

As Gumi had predicted, the south side of the platform was practically deserted, except for isolated clusters of people sitting on the benches along the fence, watching the endless flow of airplanes taking off and landing. Yukari led me to a corner at the far end, well away from prying ears.

"There's so much I want to say…" she began, then suddenly faltered. "…um, Iacchi, I…these past few days have been…oh, God, I've barely gotten started and I'm messing the whole thing up." She took both my hands in hers. "It'd be easier if you looked at me. You've barely done that since we got to the airport. Please, I want to see your face. I  _need_ to, or I won't get through this."

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to worry you," I mumbled, so softly that I could barely hear my own reply. Slowly, I raised my eyes to Yukari's, but immediately wished I hadn't. The sadness in them was so deep that it hurt me to see it. After only a second or two, I dropped my gaze. "Yukari, I…I can't…"

As my voice trailed off into silence, Yukari gently interlaced her fingers with mine.

"It's hard, isn't it? We both knew it would be. God, I wish life had a pause button, you know? I'd freeze time for everyone but us, so we could stay just as we are. It's time to wake up from the dream, I guess, but I don't want to. I want…" Her breath hitched, almost like she was choking back a sob. "…I want to stay asleep forever." She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "Remember how I said that I wanted to get on that airplane knowing that being with you was worth the pain? Well, it was. I won't regret a single minute we were together, not ever. I wish we didn't have to end things like this, but we both know it has to be this way."

 _Please, Yukari, I'm begging you: don't break up with me,_ is what I wanted so badly to say, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Despite my fantasy that I was Yukari's real lover, and not just pretending for a weekend, I decided that to make any sort of demand on her for a permanent relationship would have been utterly selfish. The last thing an international superstar like Yukari needed was the distraction of a long-distance love affair. Besides, she deserved someone who would be there to hold her every night, if not on the road, then at least during breaks in her tour schedule. What she  _didn't_  need was a so-called lover who was little more than an image on a computer screen, someone she'd only see in person maybe once a year.

No, Yukari needed the freedom to soar. I'd only weigh her down like a millstone. The only responsible thing to do was to let her go, wish her well, and somehow find it in me to move on, no matter how hard that proved to be.

Even if part of me didn't want to believe it, it was better for us both this way.

So now here we were, at the bitter end.

"Yukari, please…give me some hope. Will I ever see you again? Am I ever going to get another chance?"

My soon-to-be-ex-lover was silent for several seconds before answering.

"After Nagoya, I thought that was it, but we met again after so long. So who knows? Maybe fate will bring us back together. But I think we need to be realistic."

She meant  _no,_ of course. I'd pretty much known that was going to be her answer, but even so, the words were like a hammer to my heart. I squeezed my eyes shut, as if by some miracle I could contain the impending flood, but it was no good. Pulling a well-used tissue from my jeans pocket, I attempted to wipe away the evidence, but all I accomplished was to smear the moisture across my cheeks. Thank heaven I'd decided not to wear any make-up that afternoon.

"I'll always love you, Yukari," I said, somehow managing to force the words through a throat that suddenly didn't want to work properly. "Even if you hated me, I'd still love you, and that'll never change. There'll always be a little part of me that belongs to you."

Yukari's beautiful violet eyes, already filled to the brim, suddenly overflowed, and her lower lip began to quiver.

"Iacchi, I…" She hesitated, her mouth working silently, as if what she wanted to say was getting stuck on the way out. After a few moments of trying, she finally managed to say, "Oh, God, I'm going to miss you so much. This hurts way worse than I thought it would. Hold me one last time, okay?"

She swept me into her arms and buried her face in my neck, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs. The warm trickle of her tears on my skin washed away the last of my self-control, and I clung to her for dear life, no longer bothering to hide my grief.

I wanted to weep for a lifetime – to rage without end at fate for giving me Yukari, only to snatch her from me so soon – but my instinctive embarrassment at showing strong emotions in public soon kicked in. With great effort, I began the process of shoving my anguish back underneath that ill-fitting mask. Judging from the fact that Yukari's breathing had evened out, she was fighting the same battle.

"There are people watching," I sniffled.

"Let 'em," she murmured, making no move to let me go. If anything, her embrace grew tighter. "All I care about is you."

Oblivious to the stares from the other people on the observation deck, we remained in each other's arms for what little time we had left. Neither of us spoke – a good thing, because any attempt at conversation would likely have reopened the floodgates. I spent those final few minutes soaking up Yukari's warmth, and trying not to think of how I was about to lose the privilege of holding her close like this.

After too short a time, Yukari's cell phone began to warble.

"That's Gumi-chan's email alert," she said, pulling reluctantly from my arms to fumble around in her valise. "They're here somewh-…ah." To my surprise, rather than pulling out her phone, she instead produced a travel pack of tissues, one of which she offered to me.

As I wiped my eyes, I asked, "Aren't you going to read that message?"

"Nah. I already know what it says: some variation on 'get your scrawny butt downstairs.' We'd better go. She's like fingernails on a chalkboard if I'm late for anything."

She flashed me that trademark Yukari smile; it was weaker and more watery than usual, but even so, it was enough to bolster my courage. I would get through this, and I would  _not_ cry again – at least, not in front of Yukari.

"Let's not keep Masami-san waiting, then," I said, trying to sound positive.

"Yeah, let's not," Yukari replied with considerably less enthusiasm. "Time for us to play the final act."

* * *

The broad open area in front of the security checkpoint was packed both with travelers and those seeing them off. Lily and Gumi were already there waiting, so we pushed through the milling crowd to join them.

With one glance at Lily, I almost forgot my own troubles. She was wearing her sunglasses indoors – indisputable evidence that this woman who hardly ever cried had been doing exactly that. Barely acknowledging our arrival, she stared into space like a zombie. Her behavior, along with Gumi's haggard expression, suggested their time alone had been as heartbreaking as Yukari's and mine.

"Yukarin, we need to get moving, or we won't clear customs and passport control in time to board. The lines are really long." Despite the grim atmosphere, Gumi was still as businesslike as ever, but as she and I said our good-byes, she let the façade slip just enough for me to hear the strain vibrating through her voice.

"She's incredibly vulnerable right now." Gumi nodded toward Lily. "Lots of stuff rattling around inside that blonde head, not all of it good. It's my fault, too. I wish I didn't have to…um, that I could…uh, I mean…promise me you'll take care of her, since I won't be around to do it." When she realized what she'd said, she looked away, clearly embarrassed. "No wait, that's not what I meant. I know you guys aren't like  _that_ …um, it's just that she told me you two have been close for a long time, so could you, you know, maybe keep an eye on her for me?"

"Consider it a promise," I said.

My reply seemed to satisfy Gumi.

"Don't mind me – I guess I just needed the reassurance." With a glance at Yukari, she continued, "I'm not sure how things are going to go for the Boss. She can flash that fake grin of hers all she wants, but she's taking this badly, I can tell."

"All four of us are, I think," I said.

Gumi's face fell just a bit further.

"I just wish it all didn't have to end like this. Time passes by so fast, doesn't it? But anyway, thank you for these past few days. It was worth all this mess just to see Yukarin smile. I can't remember ever seeing her happier." More softly, almost to herself, she added, "I wish I could make it so she  _stayed_  happy, but this is one situation I can't fix for her. Hell, I can't even fix it for myself."

With a regretful shake of her head, Gumi wished me good luck, and turned her attention back to Lily, who had just finished her own conversation with Yukari.

When we were face to face again, Yukari reached out to sweep the stray hairs out of my eyes. How I longed to nuzzle against that hand, but the time for public affection was long past. Instead, I spent my last few moments of happiness drinking in the sight of her, imprinting her image in my mind, from her soul-melting eyes to her incandescent smile to those adorable twin ponytails. And of course, the lithe body that I'd come to know so intimately over the past 72 hours.

"When I go, I'm not going to look back," Yukari said in a hushed tone, breaking the brief silence that had fallen over us. "If I do, I'll never be able to leave you."

"It's okay," I assured her.

" _Sayonara,_ Iacchi. I'll never forget you."

 _Sayonara._ Farewell. The word carried the devastating finality of a death sentence. But even so, I shoved aside my sorrow for the time being, and smiled as best I could at this woman I had come to worship.

" _Aishiteru._ " Mindful of who might be listening, I did nothing more than silently mouth the word, but Yukari understood me perfectly. With one last, glorious smile, she turned and followed Gumi through the checkpoint entrance.

At the sight of Yukari's retreating back, my sense of loss grew from the inside out, like a cancer eating my soul away. But just as I thought I was done for, I felt Lily's hand creep into mine. Nothing was said; words would only have made the moment that much more painful. We simply stood side by side in silent solidarity, watching Yukari and Gumi walk away. When they finally disappeared from view, Lily let out a long, dejected sigh.

"Come on, Ia," she said, gently pulling me toward the nearest escalator. "The gig's over. Let's get out of here."

As if on autopilot, I numbly followed her lead, clinging to her hand, which had never left my own. It was exactly the lifeline I needed.

* * *

"This is officially the worst day of my life," Lily remarked as we waited in line at the JapanRail ticket machine. She had removed her sunglasses, and I could now see a mirror image of my own despondency in her red eyes and smeared makeup. "How're you holding up, Ia? You going to be all right?"

"I want to die." The answer slipped out before my mental filter could catch it.

Lily shot me a blank look, then – to my surprise – let out a dry chuckle.

"Bitch, please. Get in line. Besides, don't you owe me ¥5,000? You're not allowed to go tits-up until you pay me back."

I turned to her, surprised that she was already showing flashes of her usual sense of humor. She still looked deathly pale, but even so, I saw the beginnings of a tiny smile.

"You've got the money thing totally backwards, freeloader," I said, unable to resist bantering despite my dark mood. " _You_  owe  _me_ ¥5,000. Geez, how can you make stupid jokes at a time like this?"

Lily shrugged.

"It's either that, or I go into major meltdown mode right in the middle of the airport. Not good. Nah, I'll smile pretty and hold it in until I'm behind closed doors. Then I'm going to watch sappy chick flicks with a tub of ice cream in one hand and pitcher of Cosmos in the other, and cry like a bitch. My goal is to be a total shit-show by the end of the first movie. Then tomorrow morning, after I recover from my hangover, I'll move on with my life. It's not like I have any other choice."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Ice cream and Cosmos? Seriously?"

"Seriously. Unless you've got a better idea."

I had to admit that I didn't.

"You're welcome to keep me company if you want," Lily offered. "In fact, I think you should. I'm really going to need you around when my train derails, which should be somewhere around my fourth or fifth drink, given my track record. And anyway, you still owe me for helping you out on Friday morning. How about it?"

Although I'd made use of ice cream therapy many times more than I should have, drinking away my troubles wasn't my style. But even though I was reluctant to match Lily drink for drink – that never ended well – when it came down to it, I didn't want to deal with losing Yukari by myself. I needed Lily, the way I'd needed her on Friday, and she needed me, too, or she wouldn't have asked me to join her.

"Depends," I said. "What flavor of ice cream?"

"We can get whatever you want, as long as it goes with a Cosmo," Lily promised. "Maybe vanilla, or some kind of sherbet. A tub for each of us. I'll spring for the booze and mixers, too. Since I'm funding this little enterprise, you get to host."

Normally, I would have made a snide comment about her choosing  _my_ apartment to get blind, puking drunk in, but there wasn't any fight left in me, so I simply nodded.

"It's a plan then," Lily said. "We'll hit the Lawson across the street from your place to get the booze…" She paused in mid-sentence, looking around in surprise. "Um, did you hear that? It sounded like someone was calling your name."

"The stress must've gotten to you," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I don't hear…"

She grabbed my arm, cutting me off.

"Listen!"

Barely audible above the hubbub of the crowd, a voice rose.

"Iacchi!"

There was no way it was Yukari. I had to be imagining it.

"Oh, great," I moaned. "I can still hear her voice. Talk about getting hysterical. Quick, flick my forehead or something."

"Holy shit, Ia." Lily's eyes were as wide as if she was a small child who'd just seen Santa Claus. "It's  _them_."

When she grabbed my arms and spun me around, my jaw dropped like a ten-ton weight.

About halfway down the concourse, I saw her: Yukari, with Gumi hot on her heels, hurrying toward me. When our eyes met, she waved, and with that beatific smile that never failed to pierce me through, called my name again.

"Iacchi!"

My feet responded before my brain, and the next thing I knew, I had struggled through the flood of travelers and thrown myself into her waiting arms. It was automatic reflex; I didn't stop to wonder why she was there, assuming that there had been some problem with her flight. I simply clung to her tightly, overjoyed that somehow I'd gotten a few more minutes with her.

Reluctantly, Yukari wriggled out of my arms, leading me through the crowd to a nearby bench, somewhere with enough privacy to hold a conversation.

"Sorry for calling out to you like that," she said, "You weren't answering your phone, so I had to chase after you."

I yanked my cell from the pocket of my jeans. Sure enough, its display showed six missed calls, all from Yukari's number.

"What happened? Did your plane get delayed or something?"

"Oh, no, it's right on time," Yukari said – somewhat evasively, I thought. I stared at her, not comprehending.

"Then why aren't you upstairs? Don't you have an important meeting in L.A.?"

Yukari returned my gaze, her eyes dark with emotions that I was too confused to read.

"Nothing's more important than being right here, right now," she said. "When Gumi and I were walking down the causeway to the customs counter, it hit me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. That if I got on that plane, I'd be throwing away my best chance at happiness. I couldn't do it, Iacchi. I needed to see you, to talk to you. There's something we need to sort out, and I'm not leaving Japan until we do."

On my better days, I do a pretty good job at picking up hints other people drop. But this was definitely  _not_  one of those "better days," because I wasn't getting it. And then, as it sank in that it was indeed Yukari standing in front of me –  _my_ Yukari – the pain of everything that had happened that evening blew through me. That was all it took for my internal house of cards to collapse.

"There isn't anything to 'sort out'," I said, unable to hide the bitterness any longer. "You told me yourself that what we had was only temporary. Sort of an intermezzo between acts. It's over now, and you've said good bye and walked out of my life. And now you're back, just like that?" I snapped my fingers for emphasis. "What am I supposed to think? You're just going to leave me again. I can't say good bye twice in one day, Yukari. The first time hurt so badly that I…"

Unable to go on, I turned away from her to face the wall, hanging my head, trying to hide the tears that now ran freely down my cheekbones.

"You're crying, Iacchi. Please don't." Yukari sounded near tears herself, but I didn't dare look, for fear I'd go into hysterics. "There's something I need to tell you. Will you at least hear me out?"

I nodded, wiping my face with my sleeve. There was no way I'd refuse her.

"I thought I was protecting us both by breaking things off, but I was wrong. I kept thinking about how I was…" – her voice began to crack – "…hurting you. Making you cry. That's the last thing I want. When you think of me, you should be smiling, not crying." Yukari drew in a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "I'm not going to lie anymore – not to myself, and not to you. I love you, Akasaka Aria, so much more than I've ever loved anyone else. I fell for you the moment we met on stage last week, so hard that it almost hurt. I just couldn't bring myself to admit it, even though deep down I knew it was true. That's why I ran after you – I wanted you to know."

My head was spinning. A few minutes earlier, my world was crumbling. Now, Yukari and I were together again, and she was speaking the words I'd always dreamed of in my wildest fantasies. Hearing her say she loved me was, and remains to this day, one of the most beautiful moments I've ever experienced. The tsunami of emotions that crashed over me was almost too much bear. I returned willingly to Yukari's embrace, hiding my face against the side of her neck. I had to, because if I looked into her eyes, I was going to burst into tears.

"You finally admitted it," I said, trying not to sob the words out. "Geez, Yukari, why didn't you tell me all this sooner?"

"Because I'm an idiot and a coward who refused to be honest with herself." She took my hand and raised it to her lips, tenderly kissing it. "Every time you told me you loved me, all I did was let it roll off, and pretend I didn't feel the same. That was really selfish and cruel of me. I never meant to hurt you, but I wound up doing it anyway, and…" – she let out a mirthless giggle – "God, I just realized that I totally suck. You deserve better than someone like me."

"No, you do  _not_ suck," I said, tightening my arms around her. "And there's nobody better for me than you. You're beautiful and perfect and…argh. I want to kiss you so badly, but out in public like this…"

"Iacchi, look at me. " I did so, only to have those devastating eyes bathe me in adoration. "You didn't seriously think I was going to say 'I love you' and not top it off with a kiss, did you? That'd be like playing  _1812 Overture_ without shooting off the cannons at the end. Sure, we're in public, so I can't kiss you the way you deserve to be kissed, but still…"

And then right there, in front of several dozen stunned passersby, she pressed her lips gently to mine. It may not have been the deepest kiss I'd ever received, but it was easily the sweetest, the more so because of what it meant: the seal over Yukari's declaration of love.

Unfortunately, the precious moment was all too fleeting.

"Get a room, you damned lesbos!"

Like a bucketful of icy water, the catcall served to shove the two of us off of the pink cloud we'd been floating on. Remembering where we were, I sprang out of Yukari's embrace, almost colliding with Lily and Gumi, who had been having their own conversation nearby.

"We're attracting too much attention," Gumi muttered. "The bad kind."

Lily, the only one of us who truly didn't care what other people thought of her, reached for Gumi to pull her close.

"Fuck 'em. Come on, gorgeous, lay a really big one on me. Let's give 'em a show."

"You're going to get us arrested, Blondie," Gumi said, looking disturbingly unconcerned at the prospect.

"Who cares? As long as they put us in the same cell, I'm good."

"We'd better go," I said before Lily could deliver on her promise of exhibitionism. "I guess you guys aren't taking that flight, huh? Where are you going to stay tonight?"

Yukari and Gumi exchanged bemused glances.

"We never got that far," Gumi conceded. "This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I guess I should call the Imperial Minato to see if they have anything available. It's Sunday, so it shouldn't be a problem getting in. What do you think, Boss?"

"It's up to you if you want to stay there," Yukari said with a twinkle in her eye. "You can even charge it as a business expense if you want. But don't book a room for me. I've got other plans." Her hand found mine, and without conscious thought, our fingers intertwined. "I'm spending the night at Iacchi's place."

My eyebrows shot upward.

"Wait, what?"

"Works for me," Gumi said with a shrug, ignoring my reaction. Looking down at Lily, she added, "Room service breakfast in bed at the Minato – you in, baby?"

Lily, who had wrapped herself tightly around Gumi's left arm, returned the taller woman's gaze with what could only be described as equal parts of adoration and lust.

"I'd rather make your breakfast myself. In my own kitchen."

"There's a naked apron joke in there somewhere," Gumi said with a smirk.

"Who said anything about wearing an apron?"

"Don't encourage her," I said to Gumi, even though I couldn't help but grin along with her. "She'll think that it's okay to demonstrate."

"I don't mean to sound pushy, but we're wasting time," Yukari broke in, thankfully interrupting Lily before she could deliver one of her raunchy comebacks. "Let's get our tickets so we don't miss the next train. We need to get back to the city before it gets too late."

Gumi raised an eyebrow.

"Huh.  _Somebody's_  in a hurry all of a sudden. That's a switch."

"Wouldn't you be? Especially if your overpaid personal assistant is too distracted by a certain violist to do her job – which includes buying train tickets for her boss, I might add. Hint, hint."

"That 'overpaid' bit is getting old," Gumi grumbled. "Geez, and after I let you mess your travel schedule up like this…"

"Oh, give it a rest. You practically beat me downstairs you were walking so fast."

Gumi opened her mouth to retort, but evidently thought better of it. Her cheeks glowing a bright pink, she grabbed Lily's hand and stalked off toward the ticket line.

"Come on, Blondie. Keep me company."

"Anything you say, beautiful."

"Four reserved green seats, and make sure Akasaka-san and I sit together," Yukari called after her.

As I watched Gumi and Lily walk off hand in hand, marveling at how uncharacteristically whipped Lily seemed to be when the two were together, I felt fingers flutter down the small of my back. A moment later, a hand surreptitiously cupped my rear end, forcing me to bite back a surprised squeal.

"I hope you don't mind that I just sort of invited myself over." Yukari's whisper against my ear sent tingles straight down my spine to my core. "I can't wait to get you alone. Just telling you I love you – it's not enough. I need to hold you close and  _show_ you. In your own bed, like you promised me last Thursday. Can you blame me for being impatient?"

My mouth went dry, preventing me from answering, so I simply shook my head, nibbling my lower lip out of reflex. At that moment, I wanted her as badly as I ever had.

It was going to be a really, really long ride back to Tokyo.

* * *

Three hours later, I lay on my back on the twin mattress in my bedroom, gasping for breath. My naked body, bathed in sweat, twitched with aftershocks from the latest in a series of shattering climaxes.

On her hands and knees, bridged directly over me, was Yukari, also naked except for the gold chain dangling from her neck, an heirloom she'd always worn in every picture I'd ever seen of her. The loose hair of her temple-tails, their scrunchies long since gone missing, hung downward, surrounding my face. She gazed down at me through that tunnel of violet, her eyes dark with desire.

"You're so beautiful when you come," she said in a tone so sultry that it made my insides clench. "It takes my breath away just watching." She made a show of licking the index and third fingers of her right hand. "You taste yummy, you know that? Oh, God, I can't get enough of you. Let's go again."

That same right hand, the one that had played me like Liszt's  _Mazeppa_ for the better part of an hour, drifted back down across my stomach toward my mound. As it fluttered over my abs, such wonderful tingles radiated through me that I almost let it continue on. But from somewhere deep in my monkey brain, my self-preservation instinct emerged from hibernation. Summoning my remaining strength, I caught her arm before those questing fingers found what they were looking for.

"Geez, Yukari, you've got to let me rest," I whined. "You're going to kill me."

Yukari leaned down to caress my lips with her own.

"Okay, maybe four Os in 45 minutes is too much," she conceded, sounding genuinely remorseful. "But I couldn't help it. When you moan like that, I lose control." Her eyes widened. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, no, I'm okay," I said, kissing her back to make sure she understood I wasn't unhappy with her. "It was awesome. Maybe a little too awesome."

"Sorry. I promise I'll be gentler from now on. How about we snuggle for a bit and just talk?"

"That'll let me catch my breath, at least," I said.

She settled in between my body and the wall, molding herself to my right side, her head on my shoulder. My bed was in no way big enough for two, but with our bodies molded together like this, it seemed cozy rather than cramped. Not that I minded the tight fit; lying next to Yukari was bliss, no matter where we happened to be.

"I'm going to miss you so much when I go back to the States," she said after a short silence. She must have felt me tense up, because she quickly added, "We're going to have to face it, Iacchi. But things are different now. I'm leaving, but I'm not  _leaving,_ if you get me."

I did. We were official lovers now – no pretending, and no time limitations – so her second attempt at departing Tokyo wouldn't mean a permanent good bye.

"When?"

"I'm not sure. Probably Tuesday morning. Gumi-chan and I will figure things out tomorrow."

"But what about your meeting?"

"Stuff like that can always be rescheduled. The label's going to yell about it, and so'll my agent, but it's worth dealing with their drama if I get an extra couple nights with you."

"You're getting more than just a couple nights," I pointed out. "Whenever you come back to Japan, I'm all yours."

"But that won't be until Bon," she said, sounding suddenly dejected. "That's more than three months from now. And the plan was for me to go to Kyoto to visit my family. I can't put that off any longer. It's going to take creative scheduling to add in a trip to Tokyo."

"We can make it work," I said, idly trailing my fingers across her lower back. "You don't need to come here – I'll take a bullet train south. Until then, we'll use video chat, email, phone calls – whatever it takes. Three months is nothing."

"But after that, I won't be back until New Year's. That's, like, another five months. I don't know if I can make it five months without you. And you might get tired of waiting that long."

She sounded so vulnerable that my heart ached for her.

"We've already been through this, Yukari. What did I tell you at the airport? I love you, and that won't change. So even if we only get to be together like this a couple days a year, it's enough for me."

"I'm sorry," she said, punctuating the apology by nuzzling against the side of my neck. "I didn't mean to make it sound like I doubted you. It's just that…um, I'm not too sure how I'm going to handle a long-distance relationship. See, I kind of have a track record of sucking at them, so I'm really nervous. Because, um…oh, geez, the details are a little embarrassing."

I kissed the top of her head lightly, wondering what secret she was about to reveal, and how I'd react.

"We're lovers, so you can tell me anything," I said. "I won't ever think less of you."

Yukari was silent for a long moment.

"Remember that night in Nagoya, when we first met?"

"Of course."

"Back then, I had a girlfriend, a dance major at the same school as me," she said. "I'm not the kind who cheats, but I thought seriously about it that night. I was lonely, and very, very tempted by a certain trumpet-playing hottie from Tokyo who was drooling all over me."

"I was  _not_ drooling," I said, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"Oh, come on. You were hitting on me so hard that I was getting bruises."

"Meanie. You make me sound like a teenage boy."

"I'm only teasing," she said with a chuckle. "You weren't that bad, but it was so totally obvious that you wanted me. If I'd have offered to take you to my hotel, you would have been all over that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," I mumbled, now hiding my face in mortification.

"Heh. Called it." Before I could protest further, Yukari sighed, and added, "It wasn't exactly one-sided. Good God, you looked so tasty in that tight top and low-cut jeans. I almost asked you up to my room for a drink. I kicked myself for weeks for chickening out."

"But what about your girlfriend?"

"It's not like she would have cared." To my surprise, she didn't sound all that bitter – only a bit regretful. "That was the most important night of my career to that point, and she promised to be there, but she never showed. While I was on stage accepting that gold medal, she was back in Kyoto, in bed with someone else."

"No way," I gasped. "Are you serious?"

"It gets worse. She was the third lover in a row to cheat on me. They all said it was because I was never around for them, and that I cared more about my music than our relationship. After that last break-up, I decided to stay single, at least until I retired from touring. And I made it work for two years. Then I walked onto that stage last week, and there you were: the girl from Nagoya, the one who got away. I was pretty much doomed right then, even though I wouldn't admit it."

All of a sudden, what she'd told me the previous Friday – about coming back from tour only to find herself alone again – made perfect sense. Who wouldn't want to avoid fire if they've already been burned three times?

"But I'm not like them," I insisted. "I'd never cheat on you. I've had it happen to me, and it sucks."

"I believe you wouldn't, Iacchi, I really do. You're a decent person, and it's obvious you care about other people, not just yourself. I guess that's the reason that I wound up not taking the flight today. Deep down, it finally hit me that you're more than worth the risk. Not just for a weekend, but for as long as you'll have me." She brushed her lips against my cheek, then added, "But see, I still have all that baggage from those years, and it means I'll get insecure sometimes when we're apart. It won't be easy being my girlfriend, even if we only see each other on video chat most of the time. Trust me, you have no idea how high-maintenance I can be."

"I'll take my chances," I said. "I can be pretty clueless, so if you're having one of those moments, I may not even notice. Besides, I deal with Lily all the time, and she's a hormonal train wreck on her best days. So I shouldn't have any trouble handling you."

Yukari raised her head from my chest, her eyes gleaming with speculation.

"Oh, is that right? You think you can  _handle_ me? Well,  _I_  think you're a hundred years too early."

Something about Yukari's sudden, unspoken dare drove the room temperature back up to where it had been while she was power-topping me senseless. The delicious sense of fatigue that had filled me after our last round of lovemaking drained away; my energy returned with a vengeance, and with it my all-consuming craving for her.

"Think again, Princess," I said, rolling on my side to face her. "You can't resist my secret weapon."

"And what's that, pray tell?"

"My billion-yen lips, as you keep calling them."

"Hah! You flatter yourself. There's no way you can make me give it up with just one ki-… _mmph!"_

I fused my lips to hers, kissing her deeply. I expected her to at least pretend to resist, but instead she moaned into my mouth, her tongue accepting my challenge to duel. Our breasts and bellies pressed together, the perspiration on our bodies commingling.

"You are  _so_ hot when you take charge," Yukari growled when we finally took time to breathe. "Oh, God, that makes me crazy."

She wound her fingers into my hair, and then promptly pulled me back into another kiss, her tongue resuming its battle with mine. I held her close, reveling in the sensation of her skin against mine, trying not to think of how desperately I would miss her soft warmth during those lonely nights to come.

I'd have been happy to stay frozen in that moment, but Yukari clearly had other ideas. After a short while, she took hold of my wrist and pulled it downward.

"Here, feel what you do to me," she said, guiding my hand to the scalding flood between her thighs. As my fingers slid into place, she let out a hiss of pleasure.

"You're soaked."

"It's all because of you, Iacchi," she gasped, clinging to me as I caressed her. I could feel her bloom like a flower at my touch. "Oh! So good…"

I sought out her pleasure point, intending only to tease it a bit, but no sooner had I brushed a fingertip across it than she let out a ragged cry and shuddered violently against me.

"Wow, already?"

"I couldn't help it," she groaned. "I want you so badly. Please…it's too soon to stop."

We shifted positions so she could roll onto her back. Given the lack of space to move around in, it was a challenging maneuver, but we managed somehow, despite my nearly falling out of the bed in the process. As I settled in on top of her, Yukari wrapped her legs around my hips and her arms around my neck. I could hear the steady thump of a heartbeat, but wasn't sure whose it was – hers or mine.

"My strong, beautiful Iacchi," she said, gazing up at me with smoldering eyes. "Please – touch me more. Make me come for you."

Too overcome to reply, I kissed her again and again, feasting on her lips. Her hands ran up and down my back, occasionally dropping down to sink into the muscles of my rear end, trailing fire wherever they went. Oh, those magic fingers – I wanted her to touch me all over.

Yukari ground herself hard against me, growing ever more restless as the seconds ticked by. She wasn't difficult to read; the nudges to my hips, the suggestive little pushes to my shoulders, the gentle tugs to my hair – each one was a signal that she wanted my mouth much lower on her body.

Normally, I would have taken my time bringing her to a second peak. Unlike me, who liked sex hard and fast, Yukari generally preferred to be spoiled with a long, slow build-up. But that night, her need was so overwhelming that I didn't dare toy with her the way I usually would. I began to work my way downward, and after a brief detour to her breasts – which had her squirming – I pushed her legs apart, kneeling between them like an acolyte at an altar.

Yukari gazed up at me with pleading eyes. She didn't even need to speak; I knew exactly what she expected of me.

Hooking my hands under her thighs, I pressed my mouth against her, stretching my lips as far apart as I could, trying to take in as much of her as possible. Oh, how marvelous she tasted – it was as if I'd dipped my tongue into a bowl of warm honey.

"Oh, yes," she sighed, weaving her fingers into my hair. "Yes, yes, yes…"

She was even more responsive than usual. Her silken folds practically melted on my lips; every lick, every nibble seemed to release a fresh lava-flow of essence for me to lap up. And every time I made contact with her swollen, sensitive bud, she shivered.

In a moment of inspiration, I began tracing the hiragana for her first name over her nub with my tongue, an old trick I learned from an ex. It worked spectacularly on Yukari, who clutched the sheets, whining and thrashing.

"Oh, my G-…ngh…ooh…!"

When I followed up by dragging the flat of my tongue against the top of her cleft, she made her appreciation clear in no uncertain terms.

"Oh,  _fuck!"_

One thing I'd learned about Yukari early on: when she started spouting hardcore profanities – which I'd only ever heard her do while we were in bed – she'd reached her limit, and it was my cue to begin the grand finale. Wasting no time, I focused on her pleasure nexus, dancing around its edges, torturing it until she practically sobbed with frustration, jerking her hips in an effort to get the tip of my tongue where she wanted it.

"Oh, God…oh, shit…so close…!"

The moment my lips closed around their target, her body gave up the fight.

_"Iacchi!"_

Wailing my name, Yukari threw back her head and arched her back, bathing my face in a gush of hot nectar as she rode out her climax like a Valkyrie descending from Valhalla in full cry. I kept my tongue in motion, driving her forward, extending her pleasure as long as I could. To this day, I'm not sure if it was a single, mammoth orgasm or a rapid-fire series of smaller ones, but it seemed to go on forever.

Finally – and none too soon for my aching jaw and cramping tongue – she collapsed to the mattress, utterly spent. After a few moments, her hands weaved into my hair again, urging me upward.

"Iacchi, come here," she said, her voice suddenly weary.

I crawled back up into her arms and kissed her, wanting her to taste herself on my lips, only to have her return the kiss so passionately that my toes curled. And then she followed that with a shower of much lighter kisses – mere brushes of her lips – all the while telling me how much she loved me, and how happy she was to be with me.

To my surprise, she had tears in her eyes while she said all these wonderful things. The sight evoked the memory of how I'd slumped at her feet in the shower a scant 36 hours earlier, bawling like a baby in a post-orgasmic crash of emotions. But I sensed that Yukari's tears weren't tears of desperation, as mine had been. After all, even as her eyes filled, her smile was as brilliant as ever.

"Tell me you love me one more time," she said. "Please, I need to hear it."

"I love you, Yukari. As much as one girl can love another."

"Hold me. Promise you won't let go."

I pulled her to me, cradling her in my arms.

"I promise."

"Mmm," she said. "This is nice. You're so warm. And you're the best lover in the universe. I want more, but geez, I think I'm going to need a little rest first."

We lay in silence, basking in the afterglow for so long that I thought she'd fallen asleep. I was about to drop off myself she suddenly asked, "Hey, Iacchi, will you miss me when I leave?"

At first, I wondered why she'd bother asking when the answer was obvious. I was tempted to put it down to her being disoriented after sex, but then it dawned on me that what she was really looking for was reassurance. I guessed this was what she meant about "sorting things out," as she'd said at the airport.

"You  _know_ I will, silly girl," I said, stroking her hair tenderly. "I'll be counting the seconds until you come back to me."

"You won't be like the others, will you? You'll wait for me, right? Even if I'm gone for months at a time?"

"I'll wait for you as long it takes."

That seemed to be the answer she was looking for, because very soon afterward, her breathing grew slow and regular.

 _Sleep well, my love,_ was my final thought before I followed her into slumber.


	7. Impromptu

Christmas is supposed to be all about romance, but it had been years since I'd actually had a lover to share the holiday with. My girlfriends always seemed to get fed up with me a month or two beforehand, leaving me to face Christmas Eve alone.

This year was supposed to mark the breaking of the curse; I was with Yukari now. Even if she wasn't able to be with me in Tokyo, I figured that thanks to video chat, I'd at least be able to look into those mesmerizing violet eyes when I wished her a Merry Christmas. But thanks to my tendency to screw up every relationship I've ever been in, I appeared to be on the cusp of spending yet another holiday season as a single woman.

Yukari and I had been doing pretty well, considering we spent most of our time on opposite sides of the globe. We'd handled being apart as best we could: calling, video chatting and exchanging emails daily. We even made love on a regular basis, if you could call mutual masturbation via video chat "sex."

As far as I was concerned, the only thing lacking in our relationship was physical contact. Since Yukari had left Tokyo back in May, the only time we'd come face to face was in August, during Bon, when we'd spent four hurried hours in a Kyoto hotel. But I hadn't considered this a major issue. In spite of my frustration at not being able to hold Yukari in my arms, I considered our emotional bond more important. I'd convinced myself that our love was strong enough to endure even an open-ended separation.

But then Yukari left on her first major tour of our relationship – a four-and-a-half month, 40-recital marathon to promote the album of solo piano works she'd recorded over the summer. At first, we were able to keep up our daily contact, but soon our chat sessions decreased from daily to five days per week, then three, then two. Her emails tapered off, as well, from several per day to the point where I was lucky to get one every two days or so. And needless to say, our video sex had quickly dwindled to nothing.

Yukari never explained what was going on, other than to say that this particular tour was more challenging than usual, and that we'd get through the rough patch eventually. I accepted this at first, but as time went on, she seemed less and less motivated to hold up her end of our relationship. She started cutting our conversations short on the flimsiest excuses: too tired to talk, not in the mood, or whatever the reason du jour was. Sometimes she'd skip out on a chat or phone call altogether, even when she'd been the one to schedule it. When I managed to claim her attention for more than a few minutes, she came across as not only tired and distracted, but more interested in talking about herself than in hearing about what was going with me.

I couldn't understand why this was happening. We'd been doing so well, but now it almost seemed as though she was growing weary of the pressures of our long-distance relationship. Of course, the over-analyst in me ran with that idea, imagining an imminent break-up, or even – in my darkest, loneliest moments – that she'd found someone else.

By the time of our most recent chat, three days earlier, I'd had enough. Weeks of frustration spilled out as I complained about the increasing distance between us. Unfortunately, I'd been a bit more confrontational than I should have been, and wound up accusing her of not caring about me anymore. Predictably, Yukari reacted with anger, dismissing my concerns out of hand, and things escalated from there. After several minutes of emotional warfare, she hung up on me. Since then, my attempts to contact her had been met with deafening silence.

Now, at midday on Christmas Eve, two hours before dress rehearsal for the NSO's annual holiday concert, I sat with Lily at a tempura restaurant down the street from Asahi Pavilion, picking at my fried shrimp, wondering how I'd manage to get myself motivated to play that night. It was going to be an uphill climb, given that my world was falling apart around me.

"I just want to hear her voice," I said, my shoulders slumping as if weighted down with lead. "Why won't she answer her phone? Why won't she email me?"

"Because you were a bitch to her," said Lily, who sat across from me, and whose appetite appeared to be much better than mine. "I thought we'd already decided that. Or are you suffering from amnesia again?"

"I've sent I don't know how many emails and voicemails apologizing," I said, ignoring her subtle dig. "How many more is it going to take?"

Lily let out a weary sigh. She'd heard this lament almost hourly since "the Big Blow-Up," as she referred to it.

"No idea. But three days of complete silence is not a good sign. And since we're on the subject – not that you'll let me change it – you never told me exactly what you said to Yuzuki-san. Must've been really shitty to make her cut you off like that."

My shoulders sagged even lower.

"Yeah, it was. I don't really feel like talking about the details, though."

With a wry face, Lily abandoned her chopsticks to her plate.

"It's probably better that we don't," she said. "You're only going to feel worse when you hear what Gumi told me this morning."

Something in the way she said it set off alarm bells in my head.

"What now?"

"They're thinking of changing their plans for this week. They may even fly directly to Seoul."

My heart sank like a rock in a pond at the news. Yukari's tour had a ten-day break scheduled between her appearance in Seattle on the 21st and the next stop in Seoul on New Year's Eve. She and Gumi had planned to arrive in Tokyo on Christmas Day for a five day layover on their way to Korea. The four of us had been looking forward to it for weeks.

"Wait, what? They're not coming tomorrow? Are you sure?"

"Well, Gumi didn't say that in so many words," Lily replied. "But when I asked about flight times and all that, and she got really, I don't know, evasive. Told me that things were no longer set in stone. She wouldn't have said that if Yuzuki-san wasn't thinking of canceling. And there's only one reason she'd bail, other than being sick, which Gumi says she isn't." She shot me an annoyed frown. "This is all your fault. Why'd you have to be so pig-headed? Now it looks like I won't get to see Gumi until God knows when." More softly, as if to herself, she added, "Merry fucking Christmas to me."

Lily wasn't simply spouting random bitterness. Her unlikely long-distance relationship with Gumi had grown far more intense than either of us had expected. Understandably, Yukari and Gumi's upcoming visit was a huge deal to her. But while I understood her disappointment, it still hurt to hear her accuse me of being self-centered.

"You don't have to get nasty about it," I retorted. "Look, I'm really sorry, okay? I know you were looking forward to seeing her, and I feel bad that it's probably not going to happen. But you're not the one who's in the process of getting dumped." I swallowed hard. "Please, Lily, don't be mad at me. I don't want to lose you, too."

My appeal to Lily's compassionate side worked. After glowering at me for a few seconds, she relaxed.

"You are  _not_ going to 'lose' me, dipshit," she said, her slight smile carrying a hint of left-over annoyance. "God, when did you turn into such a drama queen? Okay, so you're frustrated. I get that. But I think you're overreacting. You've got no proof Yuzuki-san's going to dump you. From everything Gumi's told me about her, she thinks you walk on water. Why would that change all of a sudden? There must be some other reason for all this, something she's not telling you."

Lily had been bludgeoning me over the head with the same argument for the past three days. From the beginning, I'd known deep down she was right, but I was too stubborn to admit it, or perhaps too embarrassed.

"She's been putting space between us for weeks," I countered. "And now she won't even talk to me. I'm one step away from the ax. I can't believe you don't see it."

"What I  _see_ is you with your head up your ass," Lily pressed. "But for the sake of argument, suppose you're right, and she's thinking of kicking you to the curb. You're giving up much too easily. Didn't you learn  _anything_ from what happened back in May? If you really love her as much as you say you do, how come you're not fighting for her?"

The words drilled into what was left of my pride like a dentist working without anesthesia.

"I've tried, but how can I get anywhere when she won't talk to me? I don't know what else to do." I slumped even lower in my chair. "Why did I have to lose my temper like that? God, I really effed up."

"Big time," Lily said. Then her smile broadened. "But you know what they say: the first step toward recovery is to admit you're an idiot."

"I'm pretty sure that's  _not_ what 'they' say," I countered, rolling my eyes at the bad joke, "but never mind. What do I do now?" I looked up at her hopefully. "You helped me pick up the pieces last time. Any chance of an encore?"

"Of course," Lily said with a sly wink. "I'm always willing to screw with your personal life. And I already have the answer for you, 'cause this is practically a replay of what happened back when you guys first got together. All you two needed to do was talk it out in person, am I right?"

"Well, yeah. So?"

"So we need to figure out a way to get you two in the same room, the way we did last time this happened. Problem solved." With a satisfied nod, Lily reclaimed her chopsticks and filched a shrimp from my plate. "Consider this a down payment on my reward."

"My God, it's so simple," I said, my words dripping with sarcasm. "All I have to do is toot my magic mouthpiece and teleport straight to L.A. How did I not think of this before?"

Lily's chopsticks, which were heading for my plate again, froze in mid-air.

"Ia, you're a genius."

"Huh?"

"Seriously, the idea's brilliant. Just catch a plane to Seoul for New Year's Eve and meet Yuzuki-san after her concert. Apologize to her – preferably on your knees – and bam! All that's left is ass-slapping, hair-pulling make-up sex."

"I'm not sure how you got all that out of what I just said," I replied, eyeing her with bemusement. "Seriously, ass-slapping?"

"Ass-slapping  _and_ hair-pulling. Get it right."

"You're such a pervert," I said, belaboring the obvious. "But that aside, I just can't go running off after her. For one thing, I'd need Masami-san's help, like last time. I'll never get anywhere near Yukari without her. But I don't want to ask her, because she was so uncomfortable getting involved before."

This appeared to take a good deal of the wind out of Lily's sails, but to her credit, she still put a brave face on things.

"Okay, you've got a point. Gumi's pretty anal about not getting involved in her boss' personal life. But we can still make it happen, Ia. Airfares to Seoul are really cheap, even during the holidays. Our passports are current, and we don't need visas to get into Korea if we're only going to be there a few days. Plus, we don't have a gig on New Year's Eve this year, so we've got the time to spare. And if Gumi won't help us, we can always wing it, and—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I interrupted. "'Hope for the best.' Same old game plan, huh? And who's this 'we' you keep talking about?"

"'We' means 'you and me.' What, you honestly think I'd let your shapely ass fly off to Seoul alone?" Lily clucked her tongue with evident disapproval. "Bitch, please. As it is, you get in enough trouble in Japan whenever I'm not around to keep an eye on you. Besides, if you got to see Gumi, and I didn't…" – she made a show of curling one hand into a fist – "…well, I'd be forced to knock your teeth in. And  _then_ how would you earn a living, hmm?"

"You never cease to amaze me," I said, shaking my head, though I was unable to keep from smiling. "That's not a compliment, in case you were wondering. But getting back to this harebrained scheme of yours: you expect me to hop on a plane, show up at the venue, and hope I run into Yukari while she's leaving?"

"Why not? You kind of did that when you got her autograph in Nagoya, right?"

I had to grant the point.

"Fine, but this plan of yours is still a long shot. No, scratch that – it's completely crazy. But I'll say one thing for it."

"What's that?"

"It's the only workable plan I've got. If I sit around and do nothing, I'm going to wind up single. I don't want that."

"We'll order the tickets online after lunch," Lily said, swiping another shrimp and dipping it into the tempura sauce. "Don't worry, Ia. Everything'll be all right."

"I believe you," I said, although I suspected her confidence was as naive as ever. Still, knowing she had my back made me feel a little better. "Thanks, Lily. And sorry for getting clingy – I know it bothers you when I do. "

"Nah." Lily smiled – with a bit too much calculation, I thought. "If I had ¥1,000 for every time we've cried on each other's shoulder over the past seven months, I could afford to hire a well-hung stud to fan me and feed me grapes. Or maybe a hot lesbian would be better. You know, to share with my bestie."

I couldn't help chuckling, partly out of exasperation.

"Hey, will you cut it out with the raunchy jokes?"

"Sure, just as soon as you stop reacting to them," Lily countered, her smile far too smug. She gestured toward my plate. "You going to eat the rest of those?"

* * *

The NSO's Christmas Eve gala was one of those white-tie fundraiser events, the kind where the social elite pay many times the usual ticket price to see and be seen. This year, NHK planned to air the concert live, and in an attempt to engage the less-sophisticated TV audience, Maestro had stocked the night's program with crowd favorites: Berlioz'  _Roman Carnival Overture,_ Ravel's  _Boléro,_  and Orff's  _Carmina Burana_. Between them, the three pieces required a huge orchestra – supplemented by more than a dozen outside musicians – along with the full chorus of the Opera of the Kansai, a boys' choir, and a collection of percussion instruments that filled a good quarter of the stage. The orchestra had even topped things off by flying in three internationally famous operatic soloists for the Orff.

Many musicians complain about these holiday concerts, which require hours under hot lights in formal concert attire. But not me; even when I'm forced to wear a floor-length black dress that makes me look like my grandmother, it's still a rush to perform for an audience, and that goes double when I get to play music that challenges me, which was certainly the case that night. So even though I normally would have sunk my teeth into this particular concert, for once, my heart wasn't fully in my work.

My thoughts had been on Yukari the entire day, from dress rehearsal all the way until the end of that evening's concert. The questions tormented me: had she even read my emails? Did she realize how sorry I was? Did she even care anymore? My conversation with Lily hadn't removed my anxieties – it had only blunted their edge. I'd done my best to stuff them deep inside, but by the final curtain, the smile I'd plastered on was beginning to peel around the edges.

"Nice job on the Berlioz, Ia," Lily said as we stripped off our sweaty concert dresses in the women's changing room. "Those cornet trills at the end always give me the shivers."

"Thanks. I've always thought they were a nice touch."

My reply lacked the usual conviction, but Lily didn't seem to notice. She kept right on jabbering, riding the adrenaline high that so often comes after a particularly exhilarating performance.

"Man, what a night! We totally rocked  _Boléro_ , didn't we?" Clad only in her bra and thong, she spent a few seconds beat-boxing Ravel's distinctive rhythm line, thrusting her hips for good measure. "And  _Carmina_  – totally sick. Can you believe we actually got paid to play a solid hour of music with dirty medieval poetry for lyrics? If Orff was here, I'd give him a lap dance just for writing the damned thing." Her voice rose to an exultant yell. "God, I fucking  _love_ this job!"

"Hey! Language!" came a voice from the next row of lockers.

"Sorry," Lily called back before grumbling, "Who does she think she is, the cursing police? I mean, this is a changing room, not the Main Hall."

"Yeah, you  _never_ swear on stage," I said, smiling for the first time in hours.

"Oh, shut up."

"Fine," I said, playing along. "I won't ask what your plans are for tonight."

"My plans are for you and me to drown our sorrows in Cosmos. Or whatever your pleasure is."

"I don't recall agreeing to go drinking with you," I said, frowning at the prospect.

"You didn't. It was a sudden inspiration. Remember last spring, how we planned drunken-chick-flicks night, but it got canceled? I've rescheduled it for tonight."

"And if I don't want to, what then?"

"You haven't got a choice. We're going to get incredibly drunk while we watch  _I Give My First Love to You_  for the thousandth time, and we're going to blubber through the last ten minutes like pre-teen girls. Because at this point in our miserable, lonely lives, a good cry'll do more for our souls than hours of masturbation."

Lily punctuated her announcement with a grin so wide she could have eaten a banana sideways. God, this girl – no one else alive was as good at pushing my buttons as she was. Normally, I would have let loose with a suitable retort, but I wasn't up to bantering. Lily's attempt to cheer me up had only made me think of Yukari, and that had sent my mood into a crash dive of regret. Had the promises we'd made to each other on that Sunday in May turned out to be mere wishful thinking after all?

"I get that you're trying to cheer us both up," I said, my voice warbling the way it always did when I was on the verge of tears, "but can we maybe do something that doesn't involve a hangover?"

Lily's smile vanished.

"Whoa, sorry, babe. I was just screwing around. Hey, are you okay?"

I leaned against the lockers for a moment, head hanging.

"Not really," I sniffled, wiping at the tears that had chosen that moment to escape. "But I will be. Give me a minute, will you?"

"It's cool. Take all the time you need."

"I miss her already, Lily."

"Stop talking as if it's over," Lily said, gently caressing my shoulder. "You don't know that it is. Listen, how about we hang out at my place tonight anyway? You can crash there if you want. No booze, I promise."

I wiped away the last of the dampness from my eyes, embarrassed at showing such weakness, even to Lily.

"Sounds good. I don't want to spend tonight by myself."

"Neither do I. Let's swing by Lawson on the way. We'll need at least a gallon of ice cream to get through this."

* * *

A modest crowd had gathered outside the Pavilion's staff entrance: diehard classical music fans, bundled up against the winter chill, waiting for the guest vocalists to make their appearance. The sight conjured memories of my magical first weekend with Yukari, when she'd signed autographs for a similar crowd while I stood off to one side silently worshiping her. It seemed like eons ago.

My hopes of escaping into the night were dashed when Lily and I ran into a group of former conservatory classmates who happened to be waiting in line to get autographs from the visiting soloists. Ever the social butterfly, Lily soon had their attention monopolized, while I gradually receded to the periphery, absorbed in my regrets. After a few minutes, I excused myself, retreating a few meters away to a nearby retaining wall. I'd just pulled out my phone, intending to compose yet another email apology to Yukari, when I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

"Excuse me, ma'am, you play trumpet for the NSO, right?" said a whispery, barely audible voice. "Please, would you mind signing tonight's program?"

I turned to find a woman standing a respectful distance behind me. A few centimeters taller than me, she was wearing a bulky, calf-length coat of gray wool. The brim of her black fedora was pulled so low over her eyes that I couldn't get a good look at her face.

"Um, sure," I said, putting the phone back in my pocket and setting down my trumpet case and garment bag. "I'm flattered you asked. Most people ignore everyone but the principals."

The woman handed me the program and a pen, saying, "It's for my friend. She's a huge fan of yours. I tried to get her to ask you in person, but she's too tongue-tied."

The request seemed a bit unusual, but in the end, a fan was a fan, so I wasn't about to refuse her.

"What's your friend's name?" I asked "How do I write it?"

"Yuzuki," a different voice said, this one not only perfectly audible, but instantly recognizable. "It's written with the characters for 'join' and 'moon.'"

My head snapped upward to find a second, shorter woman standing next to the first. Her coat was black leather, and instead of a fedora, she wore a black skullcap and horn-rimmed glasses.

The pen dropped from my hand, hitting the sidewalk with a loud clatter.

"Yukari," I said, barely managing to whisper that holiest of words. "Oh, my God, Yukari!"

Her smile radiated the same warmth as always, but it also carried a hint of uncertainty.

"Merry Christmas, Aria-sama," she said.

"Hello Akasaka-san," added Gumi, who had by now flipped up the brim of her fedora. "Surprised?"

I stood rooted in place, shaking like a leaf in the wind, unable to respond with more than a nod. I gazed at Yukari, drinking in the sight of her lovely face, until my eyes filled with tears and I couldn't focus on her any longer. Then the combined effects of fatigue, depression, and the shock of her sudden appearance got the best of me, and my knees buckled. But before I lost my balance completely, Yukari caught me in her arms.

"It's okay, Iacchi," she whispered into my ear. "I've got you."

"Sorry," I kept mumbling over and over. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't cry," Yukari said, pulling out of our embrace. She produced a tissue from her pocket and began to gently dab at my eyes with it. "Please, I came all this way to see you smile."

"Oh, Yukari," I choked out, "Can you ever—"

"Get away from her, you bastard!"

The new voice's owner shouldered her way in between us: Lily, spitting like a wildcat. She shoved Yukari away from me, then stabbed a warning finger at her.

"You'd better back the fuck off, or I swear, I'll kick your ass 'til I smell shit."

Afraid she'd follow through with her threat, I grabbed her coat from behind, hissing into her ear, "Lily, don't! Get a grip!"

Lily took a closer look, then gasped.

"Yu—…mmph!" Fortunately, I clamped my hand over her mouth before she yelled out Yukari's name in her astonishment.

"You want to start a riot or something?" I whispered. Lily shook her head. "Then don't make a scene. No one knows it's her. Let's keep it that way."

"Oh, damn," Lily said after I pulled my hand away. "I'm sorry, Yu-…erm, 'Glasses-girl-san.' It looked like you were some random guy harassing Ia."

Yukari giggled.

"It's the hat, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that, and it's kind of dark over here." Lily's brow furrowed as her brain caught up with reality. "Hang on, if  _you're_  here, then where is—" She froze in mid-sentence, her eyes locking onto Gumi, who had been standing in the background, watching events unfold with amusement. "…oh my fucking  _God!"_

Lily promptly launched herself into Gumi's arms. Luckily, her viola case remained firmly slung over her shoulder, or it would have been an expensive hug indeed.

"I'm glad you're on our side, Blondie," Gumi chuckled.

"Shut up and kiss me," Lily said, practically climbing up her girlfriend's formidable chest to get at her lips.

Gumi deflected the attempted kiss with obvious reluctance.

"Not here. There'll be plenty of time for that later. We're attracting too much attention." Sure enough, in the aftermath of Lily's display, our conservatory friends were staring at the four of us with active curiosity. "Yukarin, we've  _got_ to get out of here. If anyone sees through your disguise, there'll be bedlam."

"I got what I came here for," Yukari said with fire in her eyes that had my insides on the boil. She wound her arm around mine, pulling me to her. "This is no place for a reunion, anyway. Let's split up the way we planned."

"Got it. I'll call you tomorrow, then." With a smirk, Gumi turned to Lily and took hold of her arm. "Come on, Blondie. You and me, we've got a lot of catching up to do."

"I can only hope you mean that in the lewdest way possible," Lily replied, her face a mixture of adoration and lust. As Gumi dragged her off, she called over her shoulder to me, "Better cancel those airline tickets! I'll email you later!"

I barely had time to grab my own belongings before Yukari was pulling me by the hand in the opposite direction.

"Uh, Yukari? Where are we going?"

"To your place, if that's okay."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. Yukari didn't seem to notice; in fact, she appeared to be too preoccupied to engage in meaningful discussion. That was fine by me. As much as I wanted to begin clearing the air, I wouldn't have been able to hold up my end of a conversation. My mind was still in too much of a jumble.

* * *

After several minutes of silent walking through the quiet streets of Ark Hills, we came to the Metro station I usually used on my daily commute. Since it was almost 23:00 on Christmas Eve, the platform was practically deserted.

"I think we're safe now," Yukari finally said. "So I can finally greet you properly."

With that, she pulled me behind a nearby advertising marquee, yanked off her glasses, and swept me into her arms, fusing her mouth to mine.

Her kiss was forceful, almost desperate, as if she was afraid it would be our last. And I gave in to her without a fight, as always, molding my body to hers, devouring the lips I'd craved for so long.

"Tell me you still love me," I gasped when we finally pulled apart. "And that you're not going to break up with me. Please, Yukari, before I fall to pieces."

Yukari gently touched her forehead to mine.

"I  _do_ love you, Iacchi," she said, her lower lip trembling. "There's no way I could ever stop, not when I've built my dreams around you. When I think of how I almost ruined everything, I…"

Her words, and the two tears that suddenly rolled down her cheeks, pierced me like spikes. I tucked my head against her shoulder, struggling to keep my composure.

"Oh, Yukari…will you forgive me for doubting you? Please say you will."

Her answer came without a moment's hesitation.

"I already have – no strings attached," she murmured into my ear. "The question is, will  _you_ forgive  _me?"_

"Of course I forgive you, but for what?  _I'm_  the one who hurt  _you!"_

"Yeah, I'll admit you did," Yukari said, her face clouding further. "But it was my fault you were so unhappy to begin with. This latest tour's had problems from the start – recital tours always do, but these have been way worse than normal. And there was some personal business I was trying to take care of, as well, stuff I couldn't really tell you about at the time." When I opened my mouth to interject, she held a fingertip to my lips. "Not now – it's too complicated. I'll explain later, I promise. Anyway, I didn't want you to worry about me, but I wound up making things worse. I pushed you away. After our fight, it finally sank in how lonely you were, and that  _I_  was the reason for it. I decided that I needed to apologize as soon as I could, before it was too late."

"Then why didn't you answer my calls and emails? When I didn't hear from you, I thought you were going to…" – I bit back on a sob – "…going to dump me."

"I was an idiot," Yukari said, her tone heavy with embarrassment and regret. "It didn't seem right to say I was sorry in an email. Neither did a phone call. 'You've got to do it in person,' I told myself. It seemed so romantic, you know? To hop on a plane to Japan and surprise you, I mean. I never stopped to think of how you'd take not hearing from me for so long. God, what was I thinking? I've done one dumb thing after another since this tour started. Not much of a girlfriend, am I?"

She sounded so sad that I almost started crying even harder, but I bit back on the impulse. I didn't want to shed any more tears. It was Christmas Eve, and I was in my lover's arms, so why should I have been anything other than ecstatic?

With a long, shuddering sigh, I pulled back to wipe my face on the sleeve of my jacket, willing my emotions to cooperate.

"Wait," Yukari said, producing yet another of her seemingly inexhaustible supply of tissues. When she held it out to me, the two of us looked at each other for a moment, then began to giggle in spite of our tear-stained faces.

"Do you ever run out of those?" I asked.

Yukari shrugged.

"Not usually, but I just might tonight. You're really working your way through my supply."

"Well, excuse me for being such a crybaby," I said, pretending to be offended, but with only marginal success. "Geez, what's with us and all the drama? It's like we're high school girls. We're supposed to be adults."

"'Supposed to be,'" Yukari echoed, looking unusually thoughtful. "But this doesn't feel like an adult romance. It never has. Our feelings, emotions, all that stuff, they're way more intense – almost like it's first love. I mean, I can't speak for you, but when it dawned on me that I might lose you over a stupid argument, it turned into a life-or-death kind of thing. Adults don't normally think that way."

"It was the same for me," I said. "And it scared me, because I'm not usually like that. Lily even calls me 'Ice Queen Aria.' But whenever I'm around you, it's like my ice melts, and the emotions leak all over the place."

"That sure was true when we were fighting," Yukari said with a chuckle. "Man, I've never seen anyone spiral like that. And I hope I never see it again."

She was smiling at full power now, and the summer-sun brilliance of it burned away all the fear and uncertainty that had been weighing me down for weeks. Wiping the last of my tears away, I tried to match that smile with one of my own, but my effort was weak and waterlogged by comparison.

"I did  _not_ spiral. Much."

"Uh, yeah, you did," Yukari chuckled. "Did you know that your cheeks get all red and puffy when you're mad? If I hadn't been so pissed off, I'd have thought it was cute."

"That does  _not_ make me feel any better."

"Hey, I was only teasing," Yukari said, gently kissing the tip of my nose.

"I'm so glad you came to Tokyo." I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close again. "I was afraid you wouldn't after what happened. From what Lily said, I thought I was going to have to follow you to Seoul. She even talked me into buying plane tickets for the 31st."

"Oh, was  _that_ what she was talking about?"

"Yeah. Believe it or not, I was going to meet you outside the concert hall and beg you to forgive me. Sound familiar? But I guess you beat me to it."

Yukari smoothed the bangs from my forehead, then softly pressed her lips to it.

"You wouldn't have had to beg, Iacchi."

"But I would've anyway," I said, gazing into her eyes. "I'd have crawled across broken glass to get you to take me back. That's how much I love you."

Yukari answered my declaration with a series of passionate kisses that turned my mind fuzzy and my legs to rubber. She wouldn't stop, nor would I let her, until the next northbound train arrived.


	8. Finale

Three stops into our Metro ride, Yukari unexpectedly announced, "This one's ours."

"But I thought we were going to my place," I protested. "It's another 20 minutes away."

"I've got something to show you first," she said, hustling me off the train. "Don't worry – this won't take long."

The sudden detour was an unpleasant surprise. Yukari's kisses of just a few minutes earlier had awakened a ravenous hunger inside me. It had been too long since I'd felt her soft skin against mine, and the fire in her lips had left no doubt in my mind that she wanted me just as badly. Why would she put off the lovemaking we both so clearly needed?

"This had better be good," I grumbled, "because I'm so close to dragging you into an alley, you have no idea. Can't you at least give me a hint?"

Yukari's only answer was an enigmatic smile.

Three blocks east of the station, in western Chiyoda Ward – one of the most expensive residential areas in Tokyo – Yukari stopped in front of what appeared to be a brand-new apartment building. Brushing aside my questions, she escorted me to the top floor, and after unlocking the door marked '803,' ushered me inside. The mingled scents of paint, sawdust, and carpet glue hung in the air, evidence of recent construction.

"Yukari, what  _is_ this place?"

"In a minute," she said, pulling off her hat and shaking her temple-tails into their usual position. "Let's take a look around first, and then I'll explain. Here, we might as well fold our coats and put them on the floor – there're no hangers in the closet."

The apartment was beautiful, with deep-pile carpet and top-quality fixtures. Two bedrooms, a living/dining room, a full kitchen, even a sizable balcony – every room seemed huge. That might have been because empty rooms tend to look larger than they really are, but still, I suspected the square footage was at least twice that of my crummy little hole in the wall. I didn't even want to think about how much the rent was – more than I'd ever be able to afford, for sure.

I racked my brain, trying to come up with a reason Yukari would have the key to such an impressive layout, but wasn't having much luck. In retrospect, I really should have been able to guess, but the events of the past half hour had my brain too muddled to engage in rational thinking.

"Okay, spill," I said after Yukari had finished pointing out the kitchen's features. "Why are we here and not in my bed?"

Suddenly, Yukari seemed a little too interested in the oven's control panel.

"So, uh, what do you think of this place?"

"It's gorgeous," I said, "but you're not answering my question."

Yukari twiddled her fingers, the way she often did when embarrassed.

"Well, it all started when Gumi-chan… no, wait, I skipped a part. Uh, when I got back to L.A.… um, when was that? Ugh. That isn't right, either." She bit her lip in frustration. "Oh, God, I can't get it out. I don't know why, but I'm nervous. Can you imagine that? Me, of all people." She let out a mirthless chuckle; then her face fell. "I had this big speech thought up, too. Hard fail, much?"

"You don't have to be nervous," I said, wondering what she was leading up to. Moving closer, I reached out to stroke one of her temple-tails as a gesture of comfort; it felt as silky as ever. "It's only me."

"I know, but, I just…I'm not sure how you're going to react, so…yeah. Maybe I should keep it simple, and save the long version for later."

"That'd be best," I said.

Yukari took a deep breath as if to steady herself. Her eyes met mine; there was no uncertainty in them any longer – only calm determination.

"I'm done with L.A., Iacchi," she said. "I've made it work for almost two years, but it's not worth being lonely anymore. When I take a break from touring, I don't want to go back to a city where I don't fit in, to an apartment that might as well be just another hotel suite. I want to come  _home,_ if that makes sense. And L.A. isn't home. No place on earth could  _ever_ be home unless you were there waiting for me. So I've decided to move to Tokyo. That personal business I told you about before? It was me working out all the details, including finding and renting this place." She swept an arm in a wide circle. "I'll be living here starting this week. Once they deliver my stuff, I mean." She looked away again, fingers twiddling even faster. "And I was sort hoping, you know, in a few months, when your lease was up, that, um, you'd be willing to—"

The instant the words "I'm done with L.A." left Yukari's lips, everything fell into place in my mind: she'd come back to me, not for a too-brief vacation, but for good this time. As the wonderful truth sank in, a tide of euphoria swept through me. I didn't stop to think about the details – all I cared about was that she'd chosen to make this huge life change because of me. My remaining doubts melted away in the face of this irrefutable proof of her love.

By the time Yukari got around to mentioning my lease, I couldn't hold back any longer. With a shriek of joy, I flung myself on her, smothering her with kisses.

"Yes! Yes, I will!"

"But you didn't even hear my question," Yukari protested. Pretending to resist, she twisted her head to avoid my lips, even as she giggled in response to my onslaught of affection.

"Yes, I'll move in with you!" I said in between pecks to her cheeks. "Yes, I'll always welcome you home! Yes to anything else you want! Yes, yes, yes!"

I unleashed another rapid-fire series of loud smooches. By the time I finished, Yukari's face was glowing as brightly as the Christmas lights we'd seen on our walk from the Metro station.

"Wow! So, um, I guess you liked this part of your Christmas present, huh?"

By way of answer, I crushed my lips to Yukari's in jubilation. She stiffened for a moment – probably out of consternation at how forceful I was being – but soon recovered, her mouth going swiftly on the counterattack. In moments, the kiss turned from playful to hungry, as months' worth of mutual sexual frustration came bubbling to the surface.

"God, I've missed this," Yukari moaned when we came up for air. "I can't wait any longer. I've got to have you. Right here, right now."

I yearned to respond that my body was hers for the taking. That our broken communion wouldn't be properly restored until we'd made love. That I'd grown frantic with need for her after five months of doing without. But I couldn't say any of these things; her tongue tracing down my neck made it barely possible to breathe, let alone speak. All I could do was nod.

Much more gently, Yukari went back to kissing me – no tongue this time, but a series of soft, lip-on-lip caresses. Slowly, she guided me backward, until my rear end bumped against the refrigerator. Her hands closed around my breasts, squeezing them through my sweater, sending ripples of liquid pleasure through my body. With a shuddering sigh, I leaned backwards, bracing myself against the refrigerator door, my mind hazy from her touch.

"Your boobs are as perfect as ever," Yukari said, her tone almost reverent.

"Keep touching them." I arched my back to encourage her. "You can squeeze harder…whoa! Cold hands!"

Her fingers, an icy surprise on my flushed skin, had found their way under my sweater to caress my stomach, which clenched in response to their ministrations.

"Sorry about that," Yukari said with a sheepish giggle. "I left L.A. so fast that I forgot to pack my gloves, so my hands are still chilly from our walk. But you'll warm 'em up for me, won't you?"

Before I could answer, her hands worked their way upward, taking my sweater along with them until she uncovered my bra.

"Ooh, black lace," she said, her eyes glinting. "Sexy." Her fingers traced along the underside of the cups; even through the thick material, they made my skin tingle.

"The catch…it's in front," I gasped. Yukari hummed in response, and with a flick of her fingers, my breasts fell free. I hissed with delight when her hands – still cool, but no longer unpleasantly so – cupped my bare mounds, then palmed them gently. Under her tender caresses, they grew even firmer than usual, and when she pinched both my nipples at the same time, I let out a low, ragged moan.

"You like that, huh?" Yukari punctuated the question by flicking at the shell of my ear with her tongue, and earning a shiver for her effort. "You make such sexy noises, Iacchi," she said, tugging on my nipples more firmly, and grunting with satisfaction when I moaned a second time.

"It's your fault," I whined. "The way you touch me…I lose control."

Yukari showered my face and neck with more light kisses, never letting up on her expert manipulation of my aching breasts. Every time she flicked or pinched my nipples, bolts of arousal shot straight down my spine to my core.

I tried to return the favor, pressing my hands to the front of Yukari's blouse, seeking her softness through the material, but she was having none of it. She took hold of my wrists and pulled them away, pinning them to the enameled steel on either side of me.

"Later," she said. "This is all about you right now." She pulled my arms upward until they were over my head, holding them in place with one hand; with the other, she traced feather-light circles over my stomach, smiling as the tremors fluttered through my abs. "Does that feel good?"

"Oh, God, it's  _fantastic,"_ I gasped. That was an understatement, given that my abs are one of my major weak spots. But as good as her fingers felt on my sensitive skin, this was only the appetizer. My body craved the main course, and it was tired of waiting, so when Yukari began to toy with the waistband of my jeans, I shamelessly spread my legs and rolled my hips back. "Please, Yukari, I need it."

"Need what?" Yukari said between kisses, smiling against my lips.

"For you to touch me."

"Touch you where?"

"You  _know_ where," I whimpered. "Please, Yukari, just do it!"

"So demanding," Yukari tutted, letting go of my hands. "Your wish is my command, Princess Aria."

The next thing I knew, she had my jeans open and was yanking them down to my ankles and off my feet. She tossed them through the kitchen door into the living room; no sooner had they hit the floor than my panties followed.

With nothing to impede it, Yukari's hand plunged between my thighs, forcing a delighted gasp from my throat. In seconds, her fingers had me in thrall, frolicking through my slippery folds at breakneck speed, rubbing and stroking, pressing and probing. Every time they hit me just right, a torrent of pure pleasure welled up through my spine to flood my brain.

This was exactly what I'd longed for: that Yukari would take me aggressively, claiming my body for her own. No gentle build-up, and no extended teasing – there would be plenty of time for all that later. Right then, all I wanted her do was to make me come, to tear the orgasm from my body as penance for doubting her devotion.

And Yukari didn't disappoint me. As if she'd read my mind, she focused her attack on my most sensitive spot of all, flicking it mercilessly, until my moans echoed through the empty rooms. I rocked my hips under her touch, grunting and whining as my body careered toward the climax I'd been craving since that first kiss at the Metro station.

"Oh, God…don't stop," I keened. "I'm so close!"

My hips began to shudder. Yukari, reading the telltale sign, bent down to take a nipple between her teeth; at the same time, she curled two fingers into my entrance. Her thumb began grinding against my swollen nub, setting off showers of colored sparks behind my clenched eyelids.

"I love you, Iacchi," she cooed.

At those four divine words, my body erupted. The orgasm swept through me like a firestorm, burning along every nerve in my body at once. Convulsing against the refrigerator door, I howled Yukari's name like a war cry, even as I clamped down on her questing fingers, drenching them with my release.

And then, just as quickly as they'd roared to life, the flames burned themselves out.

"Yukari…I love you…too," I panted. "That was…I can barely…oh, God."

The tension drained from my muscles, leaving me with the motor skills of a marionette with tangled strings. When I tried to step away from the refrigerator, my legs turned rubbery, and I stumbled forward into Yukari's waiting arms. Rather than holding me upright, she guided me to the kitchen floor, showering my cheeks and forehead with the most delicate of kisses. She wound up sitting with her back to the refrigerator door. I settled in between her legs, spooning against her.

The floor was cold and hard, and I was still three-quarters naked and covered with sweat, but the bliss of afterglow more than made up for any discomfort. I let my head fall back onto Yukari's shoulder, sated for the moment, and smiled when she nuzzled against my cheek.

"You're so beautiful, Iacchi," she murmured. "Inside and out. I'm so lucky to be your lover. I almost lost that privilege, but it'll never happen again. From now on, I'll treat you like the treasure you are, I promise."

I'd long since accepted her apology, but to hear it reiterated under these circumstances, and to be called a 'treasure' to boot – it was almost too much to handle.

"Yukari…Yukari…" was all I was capable of saying.

"Hush," she said, cradling me even more tightly against her. "Just let me hold you."

I couldn't remember a time I'd felt more at peace than I did right then, resting in Yukari's embrace on the kitchen floor of that vacant apartment. All of our struggles over the past few months, including the silly argument that had threatened to destroy our fairy tale, faded to white. Yukari and I were one again, and because of that, my universe was back in balance.

All too soon, reality muscled its way through the pink clouds in my head, waving a copy of the Metro holiday schedule.

"I think we're running out of time to catch the train," I said. "There's one that gets to Yotsuya at about midnight. We need to catch that one to make our transfer at Iidabashi."

Yukari groaned in protest.

"Aww, can't we stay here a little longer?"

"If we miss that train, we'll be stuck in this empty apartment overnight."

"I can spring for a taxi."

"Are you kidding? Not worth the expense. Besides, I want to give you your Christmas present, and that's at my place. And I want to make love to you in a bed.  _My_ bed."

"You're such a meanie, making me wait like this."

Even though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she was pouting.

"You've waited for five and a half months, so another half hour won't make that much difference," I said, avoiding looking at her for fear of giving in, the way I always seemed to do when she curled her lower lip. "I promise I'll make it worth the delay."

Fighting off my post-orgasmic fatigue, I wiggled my way out of her embrace and struggled to my feet.

"Geez, how am I going to walk to the station? Nothing below my waist is working right."

I weaved from the kitchen to the living room in search of my jeans, pulling my bra and sweater back into place as I went. A quick check of my phone, which was in one of my pants pockets, confirmed my suspicions.

"We have fifteen minutes, tops." I bent down to retrieve my panties. "Ugh. I can't put these on yet – I'm still sticky. Yukari, you got any more tissues?"

"Yeah, but you're not getting any," came the petulant answer from the kitchen.

"Oh, come on. I need to clean up. The last train—"

The words died on my lips when Yukari stepped into the living room. In the few seconds since I'd left her, she'd removed her blouse, and was now naked from the waist up. Her small breasts, firm and high in all their braless glory, riveted my attention.

"To hell with the last train," she said, her eyes blazing with sexual frustration. "I'm not leaving here until you make love to me."

The way she was looking at me made my insides fizz.

"But we need to go," I said, my voice filled with a lust that robbed my objection of every shred of credibility.

"Not before you work your magic with those soft, sexy lips," Yukari countered, her voice turning so sultry that it made my nipples ache. "I've dreamed about them for all these lonely weeks, kissing me all over, making me feel  _so_ good." She unbuttoned her jeans, thrusting her hips forward for my benefit. "I see you staring at my body, Iacchi. If you don't get your mouth on it really soon, I'm going to have a meltdown. You wouldn't want to make your Yukari cry, would you? Not when she loves you so very,  _very_ much."

I tried to respond, but all that came out was a moan of surrender.

"Good girl. I knew you'd see it my way." With a smug grin, Yukari kicked off her jeans and panties, which had pooled at her feet, then walked toward me, her hips swaying seductively. "Now tell me this: why am I the only one here who's completely naked?"

I had no acceptable answer, other than to tear off my sweater and bra and fling them onto the pile of clothes on the floor.

"That's much better," Yukari said, her smoldering eyes raking over me like tongues of flame. "Now get over here and make me scream."

At these words, something within me snapped. In a matter of seconds, I'd pushed Yukari to the living room floor, burying my face between her thighs. Less than a minute after that, she was clutching at the carpet, wailing my name in triumph.

After that, there was no more talk of trains or timetables.

Once that frenzied first round of lovemaking had taken the edge off of our mutual desire, our coupling grew more leisurely. I lost myself in the rediscovery of Yukari's slender, supple body, reveling in her flavor and scent, delighting in the sounds she made and the way she shivered against me. In turn, she guided me through crest after gentle crest, her every touch a balm to the wounds our long separation had left on my soul.

Long after midnight, our bodies finally gave out, unable to keep up with our passion any longer. A final mutual climax left us in an exhausted heap in the middle of the living room floor.

"Looks like we'll need that taxi after all," I said, staring vacantly at the ceiling.

Yukari – who lay molded against my side, her head on my shoulder – wrapped an arm around my waist and squeezed. Her answer came in a dozy purr.

"Not right now. Let's stay like this for a while."

I grunted in agreement, content to remain where I was. Although I wouldn't want to spend the entire night on the carpet, it was soft enough to be bearable for a little while, especially with Yukari's warm body to so close to mine.

After a few minutes, Yukari broke the comfortable silence.

"Hey, Iacchi, you're not upset, are you? That I picked this place out without you, I mean."

"Not really," I said with a slight shrug. "I'm pretty easy to please. But I  _do_ wish you'd told me what you were up to. I could've helped you look."

Soft lips pressed to my jawline, leaving a pleasant tingle in their wake.

"Yeah, I should've, but I wanted to keep it a secret. Bad idea, as I said before. Fortunately, Gumi-chan has a lot of contacts. She worked extra hard to make this rental happen, too. I'm not the only one who wanted to move back to Japan, you know."

This caught me off guard. From all that Yukari and Lily had told me about Gumi, her long years of living in California – first as a child in the San Francisco Bay area, and then as a student at U.C.L.A. – had thoroughly Americanized her.

"She's pretty much the last person I'd expect to choose Japan over the States," I said.

"Ah, but you're forgetting one very important factor." Yukari's voice trilled with amusement. "A certain blonde violist."

Shocked at the revelation, I turned my head to one side so I could see Yukari's face. Sure enough, she was grinning.

"Lily? No way! Um, I know she's really into Masami-san, but I always got the impression she didn't think they had a future. You know, that they'd never be more than online sex-friends who sometimes met in person. At least Lily always made it sound that way."

Yukari rolled onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow. Her grin had vanished, replaced with a thoughtful expression.

"I've known for a while that Gumi-chan was far more serious about her than that," she said. "You should've seen her on the flight to L.A. after Bon. I hardly ever see her get that emotional. Something must have happened between them, because she wasn't the same after that. She seemed restless. Unhappy, even. We don't usually pry into each other's lives, but after we'd been on the current tour for a couple of weeks, I noticed that she wasn't chasing women the way she used to. That seemed weird, so I finally broke down and asked what was going on. Boy, am I glad I did."

"Wow, really? What did she say?"

"I'll spare you the details for now. Let's just say we found out something important about each other that night. See, I was already thinking of moving to Tokyo to be with you – had been since May, to be honest – but I was worried Gumi-chan would quit if I went ahead with it, 'cause I figured she wanted to stay in the States. And Gumi-chan flat out told me she's in love with Masuda-san and wants to be with her, but she didn't want to move to Tokyo if it meant quitting as my P.A." Yukari chuckled. "Turns out all we needed to do was clear the air, and the decision pretty much made itself."

"Best choice you ever made." I rolled onto my side to face her, then leaned over to give her a sloppy kiss of appreciation. Predictably, it earned me a smile.

"Tell me about it," she replied.

"I'll bet Lily's going to be over the moon when she finds out this isn't just a temporary visit," I said. "Has Masami-san found her own place yet?"

"She said she wanted to wait. Last I heard, her plan was to ask Masuda-san if she could crash with her whenever we're in town, at least until they can pick out an apartment together."

I tried to picture Lily, who seemed to thrive on chaos, sharing the same living space with hyper-organized Gumi.

"Good luck with that," I snickered. _"There's_  an odd couple if I ever saw one. And Lily's apartment's even smaller than mine."

"I like your apartment. It's cozy. But my pianos would never fit in it."

"Pianos? As in more than one?"

"I have to have two," Yukari said, as if the answer was self-evident. "My grand isn't enough – I need an upright for Gumi-chan to use when we prep orchestral works. It's going to take another few weeks to get my two instruments shipped from the states, so I'm going to rent a set for now. They're going in the second bedroom. Did you notice the soundproofing? I paid to have that put in so I wouldn't bother the neighbors when I practiced. It'll be a tight fit, but we'll manage."

I nodded, impressed at how much thought she'd given to the logistics of the move.

"If the pianos get their own room, where do I sleep?" I asked. "On the couch or in the bathtub?"

"You'll be in the master bedroom with me, of course," she said with a straight face. "In the bed, mostly. That's where I expect you to be waiting when I get home after tour."

We both laughed, and this time I was the one who got the sloppy kiss.

"As long as I don't have to sleep on the floor." I shifted restlessly. "Geez, even with the thick carpet, it's still pretty hard. If I fall asleep on it, I'll wake up as stiff as a plank."

With a groan, Yukari rolled away from me and sat up.

"You're right – your bed's a  _lot_ more comfortable," she said, her eyes twinkling. "So how about we go back to your place and see if we can break it, like we did the last time I stayed over?"

By the time I got around to checking my phone again, Yukari and I had cleaned ourselves off and gotten dressed. To my surprise, there was a voice message from Lily.

"That's kind of weird," I said. "She hardly ever leaves voice mails – only emails."

Yukari raised an eyebrow.

"You think there's a problem?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I can never tell with her."

I tapped at the phone's screen, and after a brief delay, Lily's voice blasted from the earpiece, her words falling all over themselves in their rush to freedom. Out of reflex, I yanked the phone from my ear to protect my hearing from the sonic attack.

"Oh, my God, Ia! Gumi's moving back to Tokyo and she just asked me to move in with her and that's just so fuck _-awesome_  and oh my  _God_ I love her so much and I'm the happiest girl in the universe and I wanted you to be the first to know 'cause Gumi says Yuzuki-san's going to ask you the same thing so I figured I'd call to say congratulations but I guess you guys must be fucking each other's brains out so I'd better go and oh, yeah, make sure you say hi to Yuzuki-san for me, 'kay, babe? Holla back."

The torrent cut off with a loud click, followed by the beep of the disconnect signal. I stared blankly at the phone for a moment.

"So apparently, that was good news," I deadpanned.

Meanwhile, Yukari pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. She'd obviously heard every word.

"Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much."

"That voice mail was…wow," Yukari chuckled. "I didn't even hear her take a breath. But she sure sounded happy, didn't she?"

"Oh, yeah," I said, smiling as I imagined my best friend recording the message. "Lily deserves every bit of happiness she can get. Looks like she's finally found it."

Yukari snaked her arms around my waist from behind, pulling me to her, so that her chest pressed against my back and her chin rested on my shoulder.

"What about you, Iacchi?" she asked, her breath tickling the side of my neck. "Are you happy?"

"Way more than happy. But I'm exhausted, too. Please, Yukari, can I take you home with me now?"

"Uh, not quite yet. I have one more favor to ask."

I winced inwardly. It was 2:45 AM, and after 19 hours of being awake, along with a day full of stress and nearly three hours of mind-blowing sex, I was ready to drop. I twisted out of Yukari's arms and turned to face her, forcing myself not to sound impatient.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"I want to give you one of your Christmas presents before we leave, 'cause it kind of fits the setting. Please?"

I would have preferred to wait until morning, but she looked so determined that I decided it was best not to refuse.

"Okay, then. What is it?"

I expected her to rummage in her purse for some sort of small package, but to my shock, she instead unhooked the gold chain from around her neck and held it out. Its links shimmered in the dim light of the living room.

"This."

I stared open-mouthed at the necklace. During our first weekend together the previous May, Yukari had told me of its significance: when she won her first-ever piano competition at age 11, her grandmother – a retired music teacher who passed away suddenly while Yukari was still in high school – had given it to her as a present. Yukari had worn it ever since, hardly ever taking it off except to clean it. It was easily her most precious possession, even more so than her grand piano. It never crossed my mind that she'd consider parting with it.

"When Grandma gave me this necklace," Yukari said, "she told me to wear it as a reminder to never give up on my dreams. Since then, I've always followed her advice. And now my dreams are bigger than ever, 'cause of you. That's why I want you to have this."

I stood frozen, unable to reach for the proffered gift, yet equally unable to tear my eyes from it.

"I don't get it," I said. "Somehow, I don't think your grandmother expected you to give the necklace away. I mean, wearing it yourself – that'd be the best way to remember her, right?"

"Silly Iacchi. This isn't about Grandma. It's about where I see myself ten, twenty, even fifty years from now. Some of my dreams have already come true – big ones, like becoming a famous pianist – but I've got a lot more that haven't. And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that  _those_ dreams, the ones that haven't come true yet – you're a part of every one. Which is why we're standing in this apartment in the first place, and why I asked you to move in with me: my future is meaningless without you in it." She thrust the necklace at me one more time. "So please, take this. Wear it so whenever I see it, I'll remember never to take you for granted."

Yukari's words, so impossibly romantic, had my tears on the brink of returning, but even so, my first impulse was to refuse the necklace. I know that sounds cruel, but I honestly didn't think I deserved such a significant gesture of trust, especially after the way I'd behaved recently.

Yet as I gazed into Yukari's eyes, basking in the pure devotion flowing from them, I realized that to reject the gift would be to reject  _her_. And not only would I break her heart by doing so, but I'd be selling my own dream short. I couldn't do that – not when I loved her so much.

Wordlessly, I gathered my hair, lifting it from my shoulders. With a happy sigh, Yukari draped the chain around my neck and fastened it in place. It felt deceptively light against my skin, far less weighty than the expectations it carried.

As I let my hair fall down around my shoulders again, Yukari stepped back to admire her handiwork.

"How does it look?" I asked.

After a moment, she nodded her approval, favoring me with yet another of her soul-warming smiles.

"Like happy-ever-after."

Suddenly, I had trouble meeting her gaze.

"This gift…it's, um…thank you, Yukari. For, you know, trusting me with something so important to you. You won't regret it."

Yukari moved back to me and, taking my face tenderly in her hands, pulled my lips to hers.

 _"You're_  the one who's important. More than the necklace or anything else." She rested her forehead against mine. "And it's just as much a reminder for you as it is for me. We still have to face cold reality, Iacchi; even when we're living together, I'll still be out of town for eight or nine months every year. Now, when we're separated, you'll always have a part of me with you…" – she moved her hand up to run her fingers lightly over the chain – "…something to help you remember my promise: no matter where I go, I'll always come back to you."

"And I'll be here waiting," I said, my voice choking with emotion. "I love you, Yukari."

"I love you, too, Iacchi." Pulling me close, she kissed me again, more deeply than before, as if to engrave those words onto my heart. I held on to her tightly, so overwhelmed with happiness that I could have died right there in her embrace.

Years later, I'd look back on that encounter in our new apartment and realize that Yukari's gift of the necklace, and the exchange of promises that came with it, was our watershed moment, the point where our relationship segued from an intermezzo into an endless song cycle. But in the present, without the benefit of hindsight, all that mattered was that Yukari had declared her commitment to our making a life together. This was  _my_ improbable dream, the one I'd clung to since I was thirteen, and it had come true against all odds.

Well, most of it had. Two parts of my fantasy remained unfulfilled, at least for the time being: Yukari and I still needed to get married, and we had yet to grow old together. But I figured we had plenty of time to work on those. After all, our song cycle had only just begun.

**Author's Note:**

> This marks the end of the story of Ia and Yukari, at least in this particular universe. I've been asked repeatedly if I plan on writing a sequel, or perhaps a Gumi/Lily extra chapter, but I've decided to leave it to the reader to speculate on how each pairing's future plays out. It's more fun that way, I think.
> 
> I'm grateful to my editor, [Gray Voice](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3001084/Gray-Voice), for his valuable insights and assistance during the writing of this story, and for his unceasing encouragement to complete it. Further thanks go to [Musician74](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2811390/Musician74) for her contributions as co-editor of the first five chapters.
> 
> The FFN version of this story contained references to YouTube playlists of the songs mentioned in each chapter. Unfortunately, I deleted my YouTube channel in 2016, and the playlists went along with it. If you're still interested in hearing any of the songs, a simple YouTube title search should do the trick.
> 
>  
> 
> _**DISCLAIMER:**  I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws._
> 
>  
> 
> ©2013-2015, Genki Collective. This story may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author.


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